Malaysian ICT for development : January 2007 Issue by i4d magazine

Vol. V No.1

January 2007

The first monthly magazine on ICT4D

Development with destiny ICT empowering Malaysia

Internet policy in Malaysia Marketing to Malaysian inbox Information for development

www.i4donline.net

Telecentres and community life Encouraging a ‘K’-based economy... Malaysia

ISSN 0972 - 804X

Malaysian ICT for development

Malay sia: En courag ing a ‘K’-bas ed eco nomy

knowledge for change

We build

We explore

Documentation We search

We capture We cooperate We advocate

Discussion

We converse We inform

We collaborate

We share

Dissemination

We interact We deliver

We propagate We serve

We reach out to communities

We bring change for progress www.digitalLEARNING.in

Contents

Vol. V No. 1

Features

January 2007

25 News Rendezvous

INDiA

A consultation report on ‘Building ICT Capacities’, 23-24 November 2006, New Delhi (India)

2007

Creating grassroots corporate linkages

Policy guidelines Part A Setting up community radio stations in India

Development with destiny ICT empowering citizens of Malaysia Upasna Kakroo

‘e’ in Malaysia

Telecentres and community life

FOSS@Work International Conference - Workshop, 12 - 15 November 2006, Philippines

INDiA

2007

SMEs in the IT industry learn about FOSS

Major ICT4D projects in Malaysia

INDiA

2007

Encouraging a ‘K’-based economy... Malaysia Upasna Kakroo and Saswati Paik

A success story in 17 FamilyPlace: Malaysia Virtual place for parents KV Soon and Wai Leng

19 Internet policy in Malaysia Marketing to Malaysian inbox Elizabeth M Lloyd

Columns

Strategies and policies

34 41 42

Bytes for All

29 ICTD project newsletter

Towards ‘K’-Malaysia

What’s on In Fact Useful links of Malaysia

i4donline.net

31 July - 02 August 2007 Pragati Maidan New Delhi

News Search ICT4D news by date in the sectors of governance, health, education, agriculture and so on. E-mail Subscribe to daily, weekly, monthly newsletters online or send request to info@i4donline.net Research e-Learning projects from India. www.i4d.csdms.in/elearn.asp Learn more about FLOSS www.i4d.csdms.in/floss/introduction.asp www.csdms.org/floss-portal

Cover image credit: http://www.kestan.com/travel/ malaysia/index4.htm

INDiA

2007

Print edition The past issues of the magazine are available online www.i4d.csdms.in/archive/archive.htm

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i4d Editorial Calendar 2007 Month

Theme

January

Malaysian ICT for Development

February

eAsia Conference curtain raiser special + Communities of Practice in Telecentres

March

Human Rights and eAsia conference report special

April

Community Radio and Gender special

May

Promoting innovations, role of ICTs in SMEs

June

Lead up to GK 3 - Emerging Technologies

July

ICTs for livelihoods/wealth creation (BPO/KPO/Cyber cafes/Kiosks)

August

Government investments in ICT4D (Review of CSC, India Programme)

September

Lead up to GK 3 - Emerging Markets

October

Internet Governance

November

Lead up to GK 3 - Emerging Leaders in ICT4D

December

HIV/AIDS

i4d | January 2007

Editorial Information for development

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Sustained Knowledge Sharing for Four Years!

ADVISORY BOARD M P Narayanan, Chairman, i4d Chin Saik Yoon Southbound Publications, Malaysia Karl Harmsen United Nations University Kenneth Keniston Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA Mohammed Yunus Grameen Bank, Bangladesh Nagy Hanna e-Leadership Academy, University of Maryland, USA Richard Fuchs IDRC, Canada Rinalia Abdul Rahim Global Knowledge Partnership, Malaysia Walter Fust Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Switzerland Wijayananda Jayaweera UNESCO, France EDITORIAL BOARD Akhtar Badshah, Frederick Noronha

This issue of i4d is entering its Fifth Volume. And we are all very delighted to provide you a bit of insight about how we have sustained knowledge sharing for the past four years. Since May 2003 when i4d as a magazine was first conceptualised and published, we have come a long way. In 2004, with the growing enthusiasm, and demand from our readers, the magazine became a monthly, servicing not only Indian and Asian readership but also the global ICT for development community reaching out in over 134 countries. The online resources being put together in the i4d programme and the news services being provided to the community of practitioners has make i4d an important knowledge sharing platform, tool and resource. We have brought out 40 issues of i4d magazine since its inception. Thanks to support coming from the authors, the readers, and the international donor agencies and support organisations, we have focussed on quality and service to the community.

GROUP DIRECTORS Maneesh Prasad, Sanjay Kumar EDITORIAL TEAM Editor Ravi Gupta Editorial Consultant Jayalakshmi Chittoor Sr Assistant Editor Saswati Paik Assistant Editor Dipanjan Banerjee

In November last year, we conducted a survey of the i4d in our magazine and to our international subscribers of i4d. The responses have been overwhelmingly positive and show the value addition that our team has been able to provide to the ICT4D community. This level of achievement has been possible due to the visionary leadership provided by our International Advisory Board.

Sr. Research Associate Ritu Srivastava Research Associate Ajitha Saravanan Designer Bishwajeet Kumar Singh Web Programmer Zia Salahuddin i4d G-4 Sector 39, NOIDA, UP, 201 301, India Phone +91 120 250 2180-87 Fax +91 120 250 0060 Email info@i4donline.net Web www.i4donline.net Printed at Yashi Media Works Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi, India i4d is a monthly publication. It is intended for those interested and involved in the use of Information and CommnicationTechnologies for development of underserved communities. It is hoped that it will serve to foster a growing network by keeping the community up to date on many activities in this wide and exciting field. i4d does not necessarily subscribe to the views expressed in this publication. All views expressed in this magazine are those of the contributors. i4d is not responsible or accountable for any loss incurred directly or indirectly as a result of the information provided.

We would like to acknowledge continuing support from the following partners: Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Pan Asia Networking Programme of International Development Research Centre (IDRC), UNDPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ICTD Programme in India administered by National Institute for Smart Government (NISG), GIS Development, Bellanet International Secretariat, telecentre.org, Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP), Microsoft, International Institute for Communications and Development (IICD), Hivos, etc. Any publication can sustain only if it keeps a fair, and high quality content, and each of you can be an active contributor in this community of practitioners as an author, if you are not already one. As in the past four years, we are facilitating international level experts and practitioners, product exhibitors and policy makers, donors and academia to come together and interact face to face. This is planned as a multi-stakeholder partnership event. The theme we are focusing on Asian Telecentre Forum track, which is emerging as a thrust area for poverty reduction. We hope to meet several of you at the upcoming eAsia 2007 event starting from February 7-9, 2007

Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies, 2006 Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License

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January 2007 | Vol. V No. 1 | www.i4donline.net

Ravi Gupta Ravi.Gupta@csdms.in

‘i’ Opener P OLICY G UIDELINES P ART A

Setting up community radio stations in India In December 2002, the Government of India approved a policy for the grant of licenses for setting up of Community Radio Stations to well established educational institutions including Indian Institute of Technology and Indian Institute of Management (IITs/IIMs). The matter has been reconsidered and the Government of India has recently decided to broad base the policy by bringing ‘Non-profit’ organisations like civil society and voluntary organisations etc under its ambit in order to allow greater participation by the civil society on issues relating to development and social change. The detailed policy guidelines in this regard will be provided in i4d. In this issue, we are providing the basic principles, eligibility criteria, selection process and processing of applications, grant of permission agreement conditions, content regulation and monitoring. In next issue of i4d, we will provide information on imposition of penalty/revocation of permission agreement, transmitter power and range, funding and sustenance and other terms and conditions.

Basic principles An organisation desirous of operating a Community Radio Station (CRS) must be able to satisfy and adhere to the following principles: a) It should be explicitly constituted as a ‘non-profit’ organisation and should have a proven record of at least three years of service to the local community; b) The CRS to be operated by it to be designed to serve a specific local community; c) Presence of an ownership and management structure that is reflective of the community that the CRS seeks to serve; d) Programmes for broadcast to be in line with educational, developmental, social and cultural needs of the community;

e) It must be a legally registered (under the registration of Societies Act or any other such act relevant to the purpose).

Eligibility criteria (i) The following types of organisations shall be eligible to apply for Community Radio licences: a) Community based organisations, which satisfy the basic principles listed above. These would include civil society and voluntary organisations, State Agriculture Universities (SAUs), ICAR institutions, Krishi Vigyan Kendras, Registered Societies and Autonomous Bodies and Public Trusts registered under Societies Act or any other such act relevant for the purpose. Registration at the time of application should at least be three years old; b) Educational institutions. (ii)The following shall not be eligible to run a CRS: a) Individuals; b) Political Parties and their affiliate organisations; [including students, women’s, trade unions and such other wings affiliated to these parties.]; c) Organisations operating with a motive to earn profit; d) Organisations expressly banned by the Union and State Governments.

Selection process (a) Applications shall be invited by the Ministry of I&B once every year through a national advertisement for establishment of CRSs. Eligible organisations and educational institutions can apply during the intervening period between the two advertisements also. The applicants shall be required to apply in the prescribed application form along with a processing fee of INR 2500/- and the applications

shall be processed in the following way: • Universities, Deemed Universities and Government-run educational institutions will have a single window clearance by putting up cases before an inter-ministerial committee chaired by Secretary (I&B) for approval. No separate clearance from MHA & MHRD shall be necessary. Once the WPC Wing of the Ministry of Communication & IT earmarks a frequency at the place requested by the institution, a Letter of Intent (LOI) shall be issued. • In case of all other applicants, including private educational institutions, LOI shall be issued subject to receiving clearance from Ministries of Home Affairs, Defence & HRD (in case of private educational institutions) and frequency allocation by WPC wing of Ministry of Communication & IT. (b) A time schedule for obtaining clearances as below shall be prescribed. • Within one month of receipt of the application in the prescribed form, the Ministry of I&B shall process the application and either communicate to the applicant deficiencies, if any, or will send the copies of the application to the other Ministries for clearance as prescribed in para 3(a)(i) and 3(a)(ii) above, as the case may be. • The Ministries concerned shall communicate their clearance within three months of receipt of the application. However, in the event of the failure of the concerned ministry to grant the clearance within the period of three months, the case shall be referred to the Committee under the Chairmanship of Secretary (I&B) for a decision. • In the event of more than one applicant for a single frequency at a place, the successful applicant will be selected from i4d | January 2007

•

the applicants by the Committee under the Chairmanship of Secretary (I&B) on the basis of their standing in the community, the commitment shown, the objectives enunciated and resources likely to be mobilised by the applicant organisation as well as its credentials and number of years of community service rendered by the organisation. Within one month of the issue of the Letter of Intent (LOI) the eligible applicant are required to apply, in the prescribed format and with the fee, to the WPC Wing of the Ministry of Communication & IT, New Delhi for frequency allocation & SACFA clearance. A time frame of six months from the date of application is prescribed for issue of SACFA clearance. In the event of nonreceipt of such clearance from the Ministry of Communication & IT within the period of six months, the case will be referred to the Committee under the Chairmanship of Secretary (I&B) for a decision. On receipt of SACFA clearance, the LOI holder shall furnish a bank guarantee in the prescribed format for a sum of INR 25, 000/-. Thereupon, the LOI holder will be invited to sign a Grant of Permission Agreement (GOPA) by Ministry of I&B, which will enable him to seek Wireless Operating License (WOL) from the WPC Wing of the Ministry of Communication & IT. The CRS can be made operational only after the receipt of WOL from the Ministry of Communication & IT. Within three months of receipt of all clearances i.e signing of GOPA, the Permission Holder shall set up the Community Radio Station and shall intimate the date of commissioning of the Community Radio Station to the Ministry of I&B. Failure to comply with time schedule prescribed shall make the LOI/GOPA holder liable for cancellation of its LOI/ GOPA and forfeiture of Bank Guarantee.

Grant of Permission Agreement conditions i)

The Grant of Permission Agreement period shall be for five years. ii) The Grant of Permission Agreement and the Permission letter will be nonJanuary 2007 | www.i4donline.net

transferable. iii) No permission fee to be levied on Permission Holders. However, the Permission Holders to pay the spectrum usage fee to WPC wing of Ministry of Communication & IT. iv) In case the Permission Holder does not commence his broadcasting operations within three months of the receipt of all clearances or shuts down broadcasting activity for more than 3 months after commencement of operation, its Permission is liable to be cancelled and the frequency allotted to the next eligible applicant. v) An applicant/organisation shall not be granted more than one Permission for CRS operation at one or more places. vi) The LOI Holder shall furnish a bank guarantee for a sum of INR 25,000/only to ensure timely performance of the Permission Agreement. vii) If the Permission Holder fails to commission service within the stipulated period, he shall forfeit the amount of bank guarantee to the Government and the Government would be free to cancel the Permission issued to him.

Content regulation and monitoring i) The programmes should be of immediate relevance to the community. The emphasis should be on developmental, agricultural, health, educational, environmental, social welfare, community development and cultural programmes. The programming should reflect the special interests and needs of the local community. ii) At least 50% of content shall be generated with the participation of the local community, for which the station has been set up. iii) Programmes should preferably be in the local language and dialect(s). iv) The Permission Holder shall have to adhere to the provisions of the Programme and Advertising Code as prescribed for All India Radio. v) The Permission Holder shall preserve all programmes broadcast by the CRS for three months from the date of broadcast. vi) The Permission Holder shall not broadcast any programmes, which relate

to news and current affairs that are political. vii) The Permission Holder to ensure that nothing is included in the programmes broadcast which: a) Offends against good taste or decency; b) Contains criticism of friendly countries; c) Contains visuals or words contemptuous of religions, communities or religious groups or which either promote or result in promoting communal discontent or disharmony; d) Contains anything obscene, defamatory, deliberate, false and suggestive innuendoes and half truths; e) Encourages or incites violence or contains anything against maintenance of law and order or which promote anti-national attitudes; f) Contains anything amounting to contempt of court or anything affecting the integrity of the Nation; g) Contains aspersions against the dignity of the President/Vice President and the Judiciary; h) Criticises, maligns or slanders any individual in person or certain groups, segments of social, public and moral life of the country; i) Encourages superstition or blind belief; j) Denigrates women, children. l) May present/depict/suggest as desirable the use of drugs including alcohol, narcotics and tobacco or may stereotype, incite, vilify or perpetuate hatred against or attempt to demean any person or group on the basis of ethnicity, nationality, race, gender, sexual preference, religion, age or physical or mental disability. viii) The Permission Holder shall ensure that due care is taken with respect to religious programmes with a view to avoid: a) Exploitation of religious susceptibilities; and b) Committing offence to the religious views and beliefs of those belonging to a particular religion or religious denomination. Copy of this document can be accessed at www.i4donline.net. Look out for Part B of this article in February 2007 issue of i4d.

D EVELOPMENT

WITH

D ESTINY

ICT empowering citizens of Malaysia Malaysia, an upper-middle economic state in SouthEast Asia, found its connectivity with the world with the installation of the first telephone line in 1874. The country developed its first computer system in 1966 and since then several initiatives to facilitate the integration of ICT in different areas have been introduced. The privatisation of the telecom sector in 1987, and the formation of the NTP (National Telecom policy) in 1994, led to the full liberalisation of the market. The enactment of the Communications and Multimedia act in 1998 established the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (regulator) in support of national policy objectives. The regulator provides for economic, technical, consumer and social regulation ensuring competitiveness, licensing, frequency allocation, affordability and availability of ICT technologies and services. Framework for development (FID) is a five year rolling plan for ICT development. The country now faces the dilemma of ensuring global competitiveness as well as access to all.

e-Readiness of Malaysia With a population of 25.58 million (2004) over an area of 330,000 sq. kms., Malaysia had an average population density of 74 people per square km., though it is unevenly spread across the country with the bulk of the population residing in the west half of

Source: ITU, Bridging the Digital Divide, Malaysia, Sept. 04

the country. The Teledensity in ASEAN countries economy of the country has been robust even in the wake of the economic setbacks in the Southeast Asian economies in 2000 and a SARS outbreak in 2003. Source: http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/APCITY/UNPAN018033.pdf The GDP of the country was reported as RM394 billion the mobile segments though have been (2003) (RM 3.8= US $1), with a growth deployed around cities and urban areas. of 5.2 percent over 2002. Malaysia has embarked upon various ICT has grown substantially in Malaysia measures to ensure the ICTs play an contributing a (gross) revenue of RM19 important role in the society. For ICT billion to the economy. The total telephone development the MSC - Multimedia Super penetration rates have reached a combined Corridor (for global competitiveness) has telephone penetration of 61.99 telephones been developed. per 100 people (2003). The government has invested highly in The tele-density (fixed) has climbed to its infrastructure. The MSC contains a high20, with the mobile phone connections speed 10Gb/s network connecting MSC to overtaking fixed lines. Deployments for 3G Japan, ASEAN, EU and the US. It supports and EDGE mobile networks have also public administration, education and started. Malaysia’s performance with respect business applications. Malaysia was ranked to other ASEAN countries has also been 26th in the world for e-Readiness. The good, as shown in the graph. telephone penetration rates rose by 7 percent The country’s Internet development while for the rural sector there was a rise of started in 1988 and by the end of 2003 the 6 percent (2000). total dial-up penetration rate was 11.4 percent. Broadband Internet services started Facing challenges in 2001 and are still in their infancy. The ICT infrastructure development in Malaysia absence of regulatory mechanisms allowing has been concentrated mainly in the urban for local loop areas. Even in the urban sector itself some unbundling, the areas are highly developed as compared to slow paces of the others. Regional differences in economic incumbent, and development and population density across issues with last-mile the country have also resulted in some areas connectivity have are considerably lagging behind. About 89 resulted in wireless out of 136 districts in the country have been broadband being identified as undeserved. According to preferred by MEWC, about 3000 villages are not operators. The connected to the country’s communication broadband as well as infrastructure. i4d | January 2007

The divide exists due to illiteracy, low incomes, amongst physically challenged people and due to difference in ethnicity, gender marginalising people whose access to ICT services is limited. Relatively low PC ownership has also been a reason for low access. The urban-poor of the country are also disadvantaged digitally. The country is a federation of 13 states and 3 federal states. According to estimates the ‘Bumiputeras’ have low incomes and low education levels and suffer the most due to knowledge divide as well as digital divide. Data suggests that the states of Kedah, Sabah, Sarawak, Terengganu, Kelantan, Perlis and Pehang have more than 50 percent people in rural areas and also the highest percentage of ‘Bumiputeras’ in their population constitution. Thus they lag behind the rest of the country in terms of ICT. According to the available data, most of the states mentioned have had traditional agro-economies and have had little development in terms of ICT industries. These states currently have a mean GDP less than the mean GDP of the country. The percentage of people below the poverty line is also higher than the national average in most of these states. More number of people here have never been educated. Some of these states specifically Kelantan and Terengganu consist of some socio-cultural and religious parameters causing prominent gender divide, as has been observed in other South Asian and South-East Asian countries as well. Some of these states, specifically Sabah and Sarawak have a large number of ethnic groups, that sometimes causes difficulty in policy implementation as observed

purpose. Effectively, meaning that when people on the wrong side of the digital divide will be able to use technology to their benefit in a manner similar to everyone else, only then the gap will close. Malaysia has taken a pro-active approach to solve the issue. This is especially evident in the 8th and 9th Malaysia plans wherein the government has taken policy initiatives and with the help of private partners, several programmes for deploying ICT infrastructure have been started in remote areas. To enable Malaysia’s growth into a knowledge society, various plans- NITA ’96 and Vision 2020 have been initiated. ICT has been recommended as being strategic for development. The Vision 2020 plan envisions Malaysia as a developed country by 2020 with the establishment of a K (knowledge)-community. Special emphasis has been given to development of infrastructure and potential human capital by involving state, local governments as well as the private-public community. ICT plans for universal access, content development, affordability, lifelong learning have been started. RM 1098 million was allocated for ICT- related activities for bridging the Digital Divide with RM10 million for local content development in the 8th Malaysian plan. A Strategic Thrust Implementation Committee (STIC) has been set up to monitor the implementation of plans. 60 initiatives have been implemented upto 2002. Malaysian Administration, Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU) has been set up within the Prime Minister’s office as the lead agency in the public sector for ICT development. MSC has also established some key projects: e-Governance, multipurpose cards, smart schools, tele-health, R&D clusters, e-Business, etc.

Specific policy initiatives

Data Source: Eighth Malaysian plan 2001-05

by several studies. It is not only an issue in Malaysia but also an issue in most countries around South Asia. Political instability is also sometimes experienced, especially in the states like Sabah which has the chief minister changing after every two years (so that all ethnic communities are equally represented) and Kelantan which is the only state not ruled by the BN party alliance. It is evident that political stability poses great hindrance to the growth in most countries around the developing world. Also, according to sources, Sabah has had an inequitable distribution of wealth between the state and federal government, which has adversely affected progress. The state of ICT in these states is below the national level. These states have low tele-density values and high number of undeserved areas. Sabah and Sarawak are the poorest states in Malaysia with the highest unemployment rates and have been the targets for many a development schemes.

‘Vision’ with ICT – mission for knowledge In the recent past, there has been lot of arguments on how to close the digital divide, while access to all is essential, it doesn’t meet the January 2007 | www.i4donline.net

• Universal Service Provision - It enables the creation of a USP fund, administered by the regulator MCMC. The fund pays for capital expenditure and yearly operational expenses incurred on providing services under the plan. The areas, which have a penetration rate of less than 20 percent below the national rate, are categorised as undeserving. • Licensing – It has been made flexible keeping in mind the imbalance in the ICT infrastructure through the country. Wireless technology has been promoted with deployments being made easier by various spectrum allocation policies whereby the spectrum has been made more affordable. • The DAGS (Department Application Grant Scheme) – It is intended for facilitating social and economic progress through innovative use of ICT. Community kiosks in the rural areas have been established under programmes like the Rural Internet Centre (Internet Desa), Community Communication Development Programme, etc. The programmes have tried to involve the rural communities and helped to connect them to the K-community. ICT training has been encouraged with economic training in relevant fields. Free Internet access has been provided at post offices and petrol stations and in multipurpose kiosks. Social and economic programmes through the use of ICTs have also been started. e-Commerce and eCommunities have been encouraged especially in projects like the AkisNet and TaniNet where e-Agriculture software applications have been made available to help improve cost efficiency. Online

ordering and auctioning systems have also been put in place to streamline the supply and the demand chain. Regional development has also been promoted with state-wise programmes. In Sabah, the Resource Development and IT Ministry directed a grant of RM 33.6 million for ICT development in the state. They would be given a further RM 1.38 billion according to the 9th Malaysia plan. The state departments likely to be benefited areforestry, land & survey dept., the state library, and public works. In Sarawak, which established the UNIMAS after Vision 2020 plan, projects like e-Bario and e-Bedian with active community involvement have received awards. In Kedah, a project called KTOPIA has been initiated which is a public-private partnership with open public infrastructure and multiple service providers, aimed at bringing broadband to all. Terengganu has initiated a tripartite alliance for ICT projects between Extremadura region Spain, State govt., and Mimos Bhd. for e-Learning, e-Business and information security.

The road ahead The Malaysian government has been very proactive towards ICT development, and Malaysia was ranked 30th in the world for Internet penetration. Various dimensions characterise the state of ICT in a country. Absorption, connectivity infrastructure and sophistication of use are the problem areas in Malaysia at present. The country is still lagging behind in broadband development. The issues and challenges Malaysia may be confronted with in an attempt to close the digital divide are enormous. On one end it is looking towards competing

globally in the ICT sector while on the other hand, a large group of people is lagging behind. The country also faces a dilemma in a trade off between devoting resources to MSC at the expense of ICT4D. Definitive attempts thus are necessary for developing a strategy, which would ensure ‘growth with equity’. Even though a number of ICT4D programmes have been initiated a lot is yet to be achieved. Also, with a number of plans for ICT development, some clarity is needed in overlapping areas. The division of responsibilities amongst various departments, which manage various projects, can sometimes prove difficult to discern. Most of the states mentioned lagging behind have an agricultural base, so it would be advantageous to bring in programmes like the ‘AkisNet’ and ‘TaniNet’ to these states. It is imperative that the ‘old’ and ‘new’ economies are made to co-exist. Though there are programmes with national

coverage, which look into the above issues, they are based in bigger cities and it would make sense to have a base in the rural areas too. It would be sensible to have an independent agency to monitor the ICT activities in the states. A lot of the websites are under-construction and inaccessible. Malaysia is a multiethnic society and the knowledge and digital divide is multidimensional in nature, this implies that great care has to be taken in the proper and fair implementation of the projects. A better system of data collection and a feedback mechanism needs to be in place for the same. A tri-sectoral partnership involving the government, a private partner and the community should be encouraged to instill the importance of learning and knowledge in the minds of the Malaysians which would further help promote the concept of a Kbased economy, with ICT as the relevant tool to reach that goal. The adoption of private led initiatives can alleviate the burden on the government and provide benefits to the private sector also. Several such initiatives have had success and through the implementation of these policies, initiatives and activities the role of ICT towards socioeconomic development has been impressed upon the Malaysian population, which is the driving motivation behind the country’s huge effort in bridging the digital divide. The future focus of the country thus will remain towards strengthening the human capital, developing hard and soft e-Infrastructure, bringing innovations through ICT in the small medium enterprises and reducing the digital divide. Upasna Kakroo, upasna@csdms.in

References available online (www.i4donline.net)

i4d | January 2007

‘E’

M ALAYSIA

Major ICT4D Projects in Malaysia We are pleased to present a select collection of ICT4D projects in Malaysia. Readers who are aware of other projects making significant contributions may please share the details with the i4d readership. e-Bario • Location- Bario, Sarawak, Launched- May 1999 • Agencies involved: UNIMAS, STIC, Telekom Malaysia, IDRC, STIC • e-Bario project is aimed at bringing ICT access to remote communities in Bario. This project has received the 2004 e-Asia award (by AFACT) in the digital divide category. • Promoted by: Dr. Khairuddin Abdul Hamid, UNIMAS – Khair@fit.unimas. my • Website: www.unimas.my/ebario/Main_index.htm

• Agencies involved: Ministry of Edu-cation, Ministry of Health, Ministry of National Unity and social development. • It is aimed at providing a visual medium for deaf people to access information, job services and peer support. It received a special award (2001) from the Malaysian chapter of the United Nations (PBB Malaysia) in recognition of their work in helping this special needs group. • Promoted by Encik Mohammad Sazali Shaari, Malaysian Federation of deaf. • Website: www.epekak.net.my/

e-Homemakers

e-Warga

• Location- Kuala Lumpur (project management base), LaunchedDecember 2001 • Agencies involved: DC one technology Sdn Bhd • It is aimed at bringing ICT access to women and encouraging them to start home-based businesses. It was selected the runner up project in the Gender ICT awards in the 2005 AWID forum. • Promoted by: Chong Sheau Ching, Corpcom Services Sdn Bhd. • Website: www.ehomemakers.net/en/index.php

• Location- Kuala Lumpur (project management base), LaunchedJune 2003 • Agencies involved: Bioenergy Sdn Bhd, DBKL • This project is aimed at improving the socio-economic conditions of Malaysia’s urban poor by providing them ICT access in local resource centers. • Website: www.medic.usm.my/e-warga/

e-Pek@k

• Location- Selangor, Launched- 2001 • Agencies involved: Universiti Kebang-saan, Ministry of health, Malaysian Pharmaceutical society • This project aimed at providing online information on medicines and a self-care guide about minor ailments. • Promoted by Ganeshan Shamugam, GS Vision Sdn Bhd • Website: www.efarmasi.com.my/

• Location- Klang Valley (Kuala Lumpur and Selangor), Launched- November 2000

e-Farmasi

AkisNet

Source: Terima Kasih, Medan Infodesa - One Stop ICT Centre for Rural Communities

• Location- Pokok Sena, Pelet, Penaga, Lahar Bubu, Launched2001 • Agencies involved: Ministry of agriculture, LFAs, Marditech Corpo-ration Sdn Bhd, Industrial and Financial Systems AB • It is aimed at creating an e-Marketplace to assist local farming projects for developing cost-efficient solutions. • Promoted by TMM Biotech Sdn Bhd • Website: www.akisnet.com.my/ i4d | January 2007

CikguNet • Location- Kuala Lumpur, Launched- 2000 • Agencies involved: MIMOS Bhd, NUTP, USM, New Strait times etc. • It is Malaysia’s first education portal aimed at promoting eLearning by making teaching resources, services, assistance available online. • Website: www.cikgu.net.my/malay/

e-Learning in Islamic schools • Location- Kuala Lumpur, Gombak, Launched- 2001 • Agencies involved: AAEN Sdn Bhd, Pusat Pendidikan Al-Amin • It aimed at designing web-based courseware for Islamic subjects and developing ICT literacy training for students, parents and teachers. • Promoted by Prof. Salwani Mohd Daud salwani@utmkl.utm.my • Website: www.al-amin.edu.my/

TaniNet

Source: Terima Kasih, Medan Infodesa - One Stop ICT Centre for Rural Communities

• Agencies involved: PPPB • It aimed at promoting ICT awareness to the members of Pondok community (informal centres of Islamic learning). • Promoted by Serambi Saujana Sdn Bhd • Website: www.epondok.com.my/epondok

• Location-Selangor, Launched- 1999 • Agencies involved: Bioenergy Sdn Bhd, LFA, Universiti Malaya, FOA • It is aimed at creating a communication tool for farmers and their families and to share information on agriculture and biotechnology. • Promoted by Dato’ Dr Salleh Mohd Noor • Website: www.taninet.com.my

e-Kuantan.net

Majuikan FAMA online

Nutriweb Malaysia

• Location- Kuala Lumpur, Launched- 2000 • Agencies involved: LKIM, FAMA • It is aimed at facilitating online auctioning for fish, vegetables, poultry etc to shorten the delivery chain. The target was local farmers and fishermen. • Promoted by Dr Nik Rushdi Nik Hassan, Psarborong Online Sdn Bhd • Website: agrolink.moa.my/moa/

• Location- Kuala Lumpur, Launched- 1999 • Agencies involved: MIMCED Sdn Bhd, Versacomm Sdn Bhd • It aimed to establish an e-community for people with a shared interest in nutrition, and to encourage healthy eating habits. • Promoted by Nutrition society of Malaysia • Website: www.nutriweb.org.my

MyBiz • Location- Kuala Lumpur, Launched- 90s • Agencies involved: SMIDEC, BCB bank, MIMOS, Citibank, AT Kearney, Microsoft, Ariba • It is aimed at helping small and medium organizations to migrate their business online to form an e-Community. • Promoted by Mr Cheong Yuk Wai, MyBiz international Ltd. • Website: www.mybiz.net/index.htm

SM@SY • Location- Kuala Selangor, Launched- 1999 • Agencies involved: Aincom computer centre, KEMAS • It is aimed at bringing ICT to a remote village- Kampung Raja Musa, interactive touch screen kiosks were provided. • Promoted by Dr Lin Mui Kiang, Worldview foundation Malaysia • Website: www.wview.com.my/smasy

e-Pondok • Location- Kelantan, Launched- N/A January 2007 | www.i4donline.net

• Location- Pahang, Launched- 2002 • Agencies involved: MIMOS Bhd, The Media Shoppe • It aimed at addressing low literacy levels and promote ICT awareness and e-Commerce. • Promoted by SMK Tanah Putih, Pahang , contact Cikgu See Koon Suan seeks@pd.jaring.my • Website- Not available (Under construction)

Highland Business Community Station (Hibiscus) • Location- Sabah, Launched- 2002 • Agency- IDS, Sabah • It is aimed as a pilot project to assist farming communities in Sabah through use of ICT, by developing an e-Platform for business. • Website: www.newsabahtimes.com.my/June2003/18.6/local4.htm

Community Communications Development Programme (CCDP) • Location- Sarawak, Sabah, Kedah, Perak, Perlis, Pahang, Malacca, Launched-2002 • Agency- MCMC, Maxis communications, Time dotcom, state EPUs • It aimed at introducing and encouraging growth in the usage of communications and multimedia based services to remote communities. • Website: www.mcmc.gov.my/mcmc/newsdesk/press/ViewPressRelease. asp?cc=7768757&prrid=971111

T ELECENTRES

AND

C OMMUNITY L IFE

Encouraging a ‘K’-based economy… Malaysia Telecentre matters to community Probably a few years back, it was hard to imagine that a kiosk could generate knowledge for common people or could act as a substantial part of community life especially in the developing nations. It was frequently stated that underprivileged people, the ones who were economically handicapped, had been excluded from the benefits of ICT in terms of income, access to services or participation in public affairs. Among them, the rural poor people often marked were probably the most disadvantaged because of low connectivity and literacy rates. The establishment of community telecentres has, to a great extent, overcome these disadvantages, but, it’s also true that new challenges have also come up and only a few of the telecentres have proved able to provide sustained benefits for the community.

Telecentre as part of ICT initiatives in Malaysia The Eighth Malaysia Plan (2001-2005) primarily aimed at sustaining economic growth and competitiveness in the face of growing globalisation and liberalisation. It committed that diffusion and usage of ICT within and across sectors would be further expanded as ICT has a strategic role in accelerating economic growth. It assured to provide a conducive constitutional, regulatory and legislative environment to support the development of ICT and its related activities. The digital divide between the rich and the poor, rural and urban as well as between economic sectors was addressed through the upgrading and expansion of communications infrastructure to increase accessibility throughout the country. The Government of Malaysia has shown its committed to the use of ICTs for national development to move to an ICT and knowledge-based economy. The knowledge-based economy development index (KDI) was developed by the Government to monitor the progress of the economy towards becoming more knowledge-based. The overall KDI increased by 591 points from 2,413 in 2000 to 3,004 in 2005 with improvements recorded in all areas. The most noteworthy improvement was in respect of computer infrastructure. It registered an increase of 196.4 per cent in terms of scores between 2000 and 2005, followed by research and development (R&D) and technology at 25.9 per cent and education and training at 22.9 per cent. In terms of KDI by countries, Malaysia remained at 17th position in 2005. The Ninth Plan of Malaysia ensures that the Government will strengthen Malaysia’s worldwide position as a preferred destination for ICT investment and a market leader for ICT solutions. It has

“addressing the information and communication needs of the poor and creating information rich societies is an essential part of efforts to tackle poverty. Poor people will benefit from improved information flows throughout society, which improve the effectiveness of government, markets and other institutions that affect them. Properly deployed, ICTs have enormous potential as tools to increase information flows and empower poor people.” – Dr. Yusof Samiullah , DFID India been stated that this will go forward with the National IT Council (NITC) continuing as the main forum for developing ICT policy and strategy, coordinating initiatives and monitoring their implementation. The Government expects the total ICT workforce to increase at a rate of 10.4% per year from 183,204 last year to 300,000 by 2010. The ICT initiatives of Malaysian government has also influenced the telecentre initiatives of this country. The Government of Malaysia and its partners have successfully implemented rural community ICT service projects in various parts of the country. The projects include IT community centres of the i4d | January 2007

Selangor State Government that covers more than 60 locations, and ‘e-Bario’ project servicing a remote community in Serawak, and also there are several others in various stages of development as stated in Review of Selected Issues arising from Poverty Reduction Practices (2005) by Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

Reaching out to the local community Government thrust and public involvement has meant that Malaysia has its fair share of telecentre related case studies, which have been adopted throughout the country, in an attempt to bring the whole community under a knowledge envelop. Telecentres of various kinds like local phone shop which provides telephone and fax services, email and Internet or a basic model where services are provided by an entrepreneur or franchisee on a small scale as well as Multipurpose Community Telecentres providing IT related services and a technology hub to assist programs and services which require these facilities have been experimented with. The telecentre initiative has been led by the government, but as has been learnt from various programmes throughout the world, involvement of the local community is an absolute must for the telecentre programmes to achieve their goals. Following this, Malaysia has devised programmes meant specifically for certain sections of the community, rather than designing just generic programmes covering the whole state/country. This approach has worked very well in some cases, wherein local community involvement has increased. There has been setting up communication access Source: centres in rural areas/villages which have lagged behind the rest of the country. Typically, the villages consist of about 1000 residents or more with limited communication access services. Several programmes have thus been initiated in rural setups. As per the Community Communications Development Programme, A suitable site is identified with the cooperation of the district council in setting up a communication access centre given the branding name of ‘Kedai.Kom’ (communication retail shops). This is synonymous to the village provision shop where most of the village folk converge. It is important to note that these telecentres are not just meant to be places where ICT facilities are provided for, but primarily as places where people can come together and talk also, which goes a long way in establishing local community involvement and support. The Kedai.Kom is operated by a local entrepreneur who operates the centre and earns revenue from the services provided by the Kedai.Kom. The initial capital and operation cost of the Kedai. Kom consisting of computers and Internet access is borne by the MCMC. In the medium term, the project is slated to become self sustaining to be managed fully by the operators. Such Kedai.Koms have been set up in a lot of rural areas throughout the community. One stop rural ICT centres for the rural communities have been promoted; these are called MEDAN INFODESA (MID). The target groups for this programme have been individuals (local community members), small businesses, schools, youth, disabled people, farmers, women groups, political parties and government departments. January 2007 | www.i4donline.net

The Medan Infodesa programme provides for services like education, training and tuition(distance education, distancelearning, face-to-face adult and community education); Computer training (basic computer literacy - keyboards, mouse, Windows, etc. computer applications: spreadsheets, e-mail, word processing, etc.); Printing (laser printing and copying for promotional materials and presentations); Scanning (scan pages of text or graphics (including photographs) for use in a newsletter, e-Mail or for printing. Several other programmes which have been initiated look beyond the rural-urban divide and have addressed specific issues. There is a programme e-Warga, which is designed for the urban poor. Launched by Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL), this project introduces ICT training and access to residents in Public Housing Sri Perak Bandar Baru Sentul and Public Housing Jalan Jelatek,

En. Nasaruddin Che Abu, Forum on ICTs and Gender

through the upgrading of local ICT resource centres. e-Learning has also been promoted in Islamic schools, with special tailored programmes. Similarly, a special needs ICT programme for deaf people, namely e-Pek@k, has also been started. There were not many communication facilities available for the deaf in Malaysia. Long distance communication was difficult. They couldn’t use normal telephones and there were no text phone and fax machine is facilitates for the deaf. The deaf have to pay for regular phone lines and spend extra to buy a fax machine. Although TV is a visual application, it was almost useless as subtitles were non existent. Computer, integrated with the Internet, has the potential to be an effective medium for the hearing-impaired person to access information, news, services, job opportunities, and peer support. It can also be used as a medium for them to communicate, using other than the sign language, with anyone around the world, including those who are not hearing-impaired. The Malaysian Federation for the Deaf noticed this potential and developed the epek@k project.

Creating local content Content which is suited to the local communities needs and interests has been a big challenge, but Malaysia has taken several steps to address this issue. Local language interfaces have been promoted by the government as well private bodies and most Malaysian websites are bilingual. Several portals have been created specifically for local communities.

MIMOS Bhd and the Agriculture Department have jointly undertaken initiatives that will boost the Malaysian agriculture by enabling farmers, producers, retailers and exporters to conduct their daily agriculture production trading online. The programmes, which will focus on bridging the digital divide, enhancing productivity and competitiveness in the agriculture sector. MIMOS developed cost-effective e-Commerce B2B Supply Chain Management (SCM) application and a portal named AgriBazaar for the agriculture

Source: Terima Kasih, Medan Infodesa - One Stop ICT Centre for Rural Communities

been extensively documented, synthesised or shared in the region as a basis for capacity development for other nations. ESCAP has partnered with the National Institute of Public Administration of Malaysia (INTAN) to develop a guidebook that will analyse the main lessons learned from the Malaysian experience. This guidebook will be based on numerous interesting case studies drawn from the experience with rural telecentre in Malaysia. Three practices of telecentres are already in the process of being documented: InfoDesa, Rural Internet Programme and e-Bario. Among these, InfoDesa and Rural Internet Programme are broad government programmes to establish community telecentres. ‘e-Bario’ is a specific initiative to connect a very remote community via satellite. Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) won the Premiere Information Technology Award from the Malaysian Government, in the ‘Bridging the Digital Divide’ category of AFACT’s eAsia Award, and Industry Innovators Award for System Development and Application from the US-based Society of Satellite Professionals International (SSPI) for the success of its research team in setting up a telecentre in the remote community in Bario, Sarawak for the use in communication, education, e-Commerce, health and government services.

Learnings and challenges from Malaysia industry. AgriBazaar is the gateway and exchange centre for agriculture communities and all players in the industry, including retailers, to carry out food production trading online. The portal serves as a platform for technology providers, industry players and government agencies to create an “e-Economy” revolution in the agriculture industry. Agribazaar.com.my has been established with the purpose of promoting trade between producers and suppliers of agriculture products. It provides an Internet-based trading hub for buyers and sellers of agriculture products to do business online. It a joint effort between MIMOS, an expert in Information Communication Technology in the country, and the Agriculture Department, an expert in the agriculture industry. Several knowledge sharing portals have been created for various communities. e-Homemakers is a portal for women to share their views, while e-Kuantan, e-Kundasang, sm@sy are targetted at rural communities. Specialised e-Commerce portals like Akisnet, Taninet, FAMA online promote the traditional occupations like agriculture and fisheries. These programmes help promote e-Commerce amongst the agricultural and small and medium enterprises community and help create electronic content which is apt for the local needs of the people, is accessible readily and creates opportunities for local knowledge sharing, something essential for the success of telecentre ventures.

Documentation – on board Documentation is a major part of telecentre activities for the sake of the knowledge sharing and replication. Although telecentres represent a significant body of experience, which can provide the lesson for good practices, many of these experiences have not yet

Telecentre programmes like these – • Enable communities in the rural areas acquire the skills, knowledge and experience through the use of communication and multimedia facilities; • Connect these communities to the knowledge economy and help them acquire the skills to use the technology; • Improve information access and opportunity for socio-economic development. However several challenges have also been associated with these programmes. They have been plagued with• High implementation cost (initial) • Limited telecommunication infrastructure in remote areas • Limited usage – not enough to sustain • High operating cost (telecommunication, electricity, personnel) • Encourage private sector participation • Need for effective management • Need for strong community support • ICT training – wide coverage • Technology moves fast Once documented, Malaysian telecentres may show the way to the other nations to carry forward their telecentre initiatives to run in more effective manner. In the developing countries, the pilot projects continue as ‘pilot’ for long time, instead of that, those may be launched as a community oriented development project for long term practice with the evidence from Malyasia in near future. We hope, if someone has will, Malaysia will show the way, to achieve knowledge based economy, using telecentre as a major tool. Upasna Kakroo, upasna@csdms.in Saswati Paik, saswati@csdms.in i4d | January 2007

F AMILY P LACE : A S UCCESS S TORY

M ALAYSIA

Virtual place for parents The idea for FamilyPlace was born with the birth of our first child in 1996. As first-time parents, we were naturally excited and wanted to be the best parents to our child. We wanted to learn from other parents and also share with them our thoughts on parenting and educating young children. But we were new in town and did not know anyone so KV came up with the bright idea to go online to create a virtual place for parents to connect with one another to talk about everything connected to bringing up children. FamilyPlace was created and to our surprise and delight, people responded and were genuinely interested to get connected to discuss these issues!

Source: www.familyplace.com.my

FamilyPlace’s and DAGS grant since founding FamilyPlace and we are still We were invited between 1998-1999 to speak at the first ever conference on motherhood called ‘Mothers for Mothers’ and that resulted in hundreds of people being introduced to FamilyPlace through our talks. ‘Mothers Meet’ was formed to encourage mothers to network and get together to share their experiences on motherhood. It was a novel idea here and an exciting one for many mothers seeking friendship and support in a role that is often regarded as unglamorous. Friendships were formed and many became close friends this way. We have personally made many friends

FamilyPlace is not just a cyber community but it also inspires real communities to spring up from our website. January 2007 | www.i4donline.net

making new ones today! At about the same time, we managed to obtain a DAGS grant (Demonstrator Application Grant Scheme) to test out our idea on creating a community for parents to learn from one another rather than depending only on experts in the field. With the grant, FamilyPlace grew in size and strength with a great deal of publicity through activities like parenting seminars and dialogues. We were invited to speak at seminars and conferences related to family and appeared several times on TV, radio and newspapers and magazines. FamilyPlace was covered by all the major English dailies as well as the Chinese papers and Malay papers. It was also featured by the on-line media like CNet and The Star online. In fact, we were close to being ‘celebrity parents’! FamilyPlace had a monthly newsletter printed for the benefit of those not connected. These were distributed free at kindergartens and children’s clinics for the benefit of parents interested to be better parents. This was very popular and there were parents who looked forward to receiving these newsletters every month. To bridge the digital gap, FamilyPlace conducted Internet courses for mothers so as to encourage more people to learn to use the Internet

for their various interests and purposes. As more and more people got connected, the newsletter was discontinued. But it was a good way to reach out to people out there. We did not however take advantage of the situation to turn our website into a commercial one for monetary gains. We have maintained it all along to keep it from being commercialised so that it remains a free site for genuine exchanges in thoughts and ideas on parenting and education. Serious issues are brought up in the articles as well as on-line forums to address problems confronting children and parents with education gaining more and more attention. A new section was dedicated to education discussing schooling and alternatives available leading to an education seminar held at a hotel in Subang Jaya with speakers from as far as Penang as well as from Kuala Lumpur.

FamilyPlace after the DAGS grant After the grant was over in a year, we continued to maintain the website on our own on a much smaller scale. We were quietly raising our two daughters who needed more time and attention as we were teaching them ourselves at home. A playgroup was formed to provide playmates for them leading to firm friendships

amongst the mothers as well as the children. Once a week, the playgroup would meet at one of the homes and activities like story telling, art and craft, songs and games were planned and conducted by the mothers themselves who took turns to conduct them. It was really a successful endeavor as we could see that the children truly benefited from it and so did the moms! It goes to show that parents CAN do something together to create healthy and interesting activities for their children without having to send them to formal kindergartens at too young an age. This inspired other mothers to try out home-based playgroups in other parts of Kuala Lumpur and elsewhere. So, FamilyPlace is not just a cyber community but it also inspires real communities to spring up from our website. The focus now was in the education of our children and a new discussion group was set up for the purpose of discussing educational issues and seeking alternative ways of learning for children. A community for home-educators was formed and various ways of learning explored and shared here. There were various get-togethers organised not just by us but by the parents in the group as well. Group outings to TV stations, public parks, forest reserve and a horse farm were amongst some of the places we visited as a group.

and administrative problems. For society to change, we have to change the way we educate our children and that journey begins from the home. This philosophy is reflected in FamilyPlace’s tagline: Bridging Families, Building Communities through Education.

Future plans To commemorate the 10th anniversary of FamilyPlace, several events are lined up for next year such as the ‘Engaged Parenting – Back to the Basics’ series which is a monthly series of articles on parenting

FamilyPlace and e-Books Two e-Books have been produced so far, written by Wai Leng: ‘Life After Babies’ – a transformation of motherhood today focusing on motherhood and its challenges and a second one titled ‘Learning Beyond Schooling’ – a look at education in Malaysia and how some families are taking the path less travelled and emerge winners with their children. These are downloadable books using the PDF files and several hundred copies have been downloaded to date. FamilyPlace plans to encourage more local writers to write and get their books published electronically to reach a new group of Internetsavvy readers across the region.

FamilyPlace as competitions organiser Most recently, in November 2006, FamilyPlace organised a piano competition called the Young Persons’ Piano Competition and used its website to promote the event. There were no advertisements but e-Mailers were used to send out information about the competition. The response was very encouraging as we managed to get over 160 participants with some coming all the way from Kuantan, Ipoh, Melaka and Seremban. It was a great success and next year there will also be a violin competition in the pipeline!

Social change The founders firmly believe that social change has to start from the individual and the way to do it is in education. Parents play a far more important role in that aspect because they are their children’s first teachers and social awareness and responsibility (the ability to respond to social inadequacies) begin at home by the way the family members relate and respond to one another and the values that bind them. Parents should play a bigger role in the education of the whole child that is physically, intellectually and spiritually strong and healthy. That is why parents need to be educated in parenting and educating their children and not just relegate this important task to schools that are still inundated with all sorts of bureaucratic

followed with monthly dialogue sessions conducted by parents for parents. FamilyPlace will go on air on RTM 1 in January on two episodes of the parenting section of the TV programme titled ‘Permata Hati’. The topics to be discussed are ‘Living the Simple Life’ and ‘Learning to Think’. There will also be several competitions lined up targeting children with the purpose of expanding their knowledge in the country’s history and cultures. We might have an education dialogue inviting respected key educationists to speak on education. There will also be commemorative publications of books and articles on parenting and education to mark our tenth anniversary. FamilyPlace has always been rooted in parent-education and the development of wholesome and happy families through parent-led initiatives. FamilyPlace has proven that with the right passion and dedication, parents can make a difference by doing what is right for their children. It takes love and commitment in trying to understand how children learn and grow and in assisting them in their life journeys. FamilyPlace would like to inspire more parents to go back to the basics of parenting good, morally sound children who are able to be the best that they can be without succumbing to the vicissitudes of post-modern living. That is our motivation and contribution towards a better place for children in this country. We have seen for ourselves how people change for the better either directly or indirectly through FamilyPlace. We have also seen how friendships have developed through FamilyPlace amongst parents and children. It is indeed heartening to see that positive change is possible even with the humblest initiative on the lowest shoestring budget. That is the reason why FamilyPlace has been around the past ten years and why it will continue to be around for many years to come! KV Soon & Wai Leng, Founders info@familyplace.com.my, www.familyplace.com.my

i4d | January 2007

I NTERNET P OLICY

M ALAYSIA

Marketing to Malaysian inbox Internet infrastructure in Malaysia needs to be improved in order for the online population to continue its growth and encourage greater usage of the Internet.

Elizabeth M. Lloyd Chief Marketing Officer, Dragon Media Online Inc. Malaysia ELloyd@dmoglobal.com

January 2007 | www.i4donline.net

Malaysia’s e-Mail marketing laws With globalisation and online marketers realising the huge potential that expanding their efforts internationally has, it is of utmost importance to realise that what constitutes eMail best practices in one country is different than in others. Clearswift has released a poll of over 1,200 business people around the world, concentrated in Germany, France,

that gives assurance of maintaining national sovereignty in a globalised world,” according to H.E. Datuk Amar Leo Moggie, Minister of Energy, Communications and Multimedia, Malaysia. Aside from broadband access, the Malaysian government has been supportive of the high tech industries with the Multimedia Super Corridor initiative (conceptualised in 1996), which has helped propel many new industries in this area

Source: En. Nasaruddin Che Abu Forum on ICTs and Gender

Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom. The poll found that 84 percent of businesses are unaware of local spam laws. However, upon looking at Malaysia’s increasing Internet growth rates as well as broadband fast growing availability to all, there is a “…need to address the call for greater info-security; to arrest the misuse of the Internet, and the issue of domain name

including that of online related companies. The Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) is Malaysia’s initiative for the global information and communication technology (ICT) industry. Currently, the MSC is hosting more than 900 multinationals, foreign-owned and homegrown Malaysian companies focused on multimedia and communications solutions and research development.

According to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), they have no specific provisions on the illegality of spam and no immediate plans to legislate. However, with Malaysia’s increasing Internet connectivity and mobile penetration, the MCMC should be prepared to deal with eMail marketing laws. According to the Computer Industry Almanac, as of March 2005, 37.9 percent of Malaysia’s population is online. The number of users has tripled in just five years. One of the reasons for such rapid growth is the Malaysian government’s involvement in bringing broadband access to its people. In July of 2005, Datuk Seri Lim Keng Yaik, Malaysia’s Minister of Energy, Water and Communications, announced plans to bridge the countries’ digital divide by making broadband available to all. Additionally, according to Huei Min Lee, research manager, telecommunications research, IDC Malaysia, “In the next five years, Malaysia’s broadband subscriber market is expected to increase at a healthy compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 32.9 percent from 2004 to 2009.”

Immediate need for Internet Malaysia has over eight million users online, about one-third of the total population. The online population is two times that of the entire Singapore population already. Having said that, the Internet infrastructure needs to be improved in order for the online population to continue its growth and encourage greater usage of the Internet. This also means that the MCMC needs to take preventive measures such as self -regulation by users through education and awareness initiatives; and management of email service providers. Aside from email marketing, mobile marketing in Malaysia has a promising future. The late introduction of broadband and lack of spending in

infrastructure presents the greatest barrier to wide adoption of Internet beyond office usage in Malaysia. Compared to the USA, Internet in Malaysia is not popular. As more Malaysian people have mobile phones than PC’s, this presents an ideal opportunity for mobile marketing as the mobile phone is more easily available than the Internet in Malaysia. The AT Kearney Global Outsourcing Survey on mobile marketing has given Malaysia the third highest ranking due to its aspiration to be the world’s leading mobile content and applications centre. It certainly seems that Malaysia is poised to reach its goal. In December of 2004, NEC Corporation and NEC Malaysia announced its new mobile phones and branding strategy to further expand its mobile business in Malaysia. Hiromi Orikasa, general manager of mobile terminals marketing & sales division, NEC Corporation states: “Malaysia is one of NEC’s most important markets where NEC can demonstrate its full competence in mobile Internet. NEC expects further strong initiatives by NEC Malaysia will help create the market and aid NEC in obtaining a leading position there.” Additionally, in August of 2005, Samsung entered Malaysia’s 3G mobile phone market with its introduction of the world’s smallest 3G handset. Samsung has had much success in the Malaysian market: in 2004, Samsung had achieved 26.5 percent market share, up from 19 percent in 2003. It is evident that Malaysia has a very promising future - both for online advertising opportunities as well as mobile marketing. Malaysia is becoming a major player in these industries and will grow dramatically in the foreseeable future. Not only do the number of Internet and mobile users increase daily, but the many initiatives that are taking place to penetrate this market are incredible. With all the news lately focusing on China’s lucrative Internet opportunities, it would benefit marketers to start analysing other countries in APAC.

DAISY Digital Talking Books in aid of visually challenged people Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY) consortium in 1996 has come out with a solution for visually challenged with the main objective of propgating the DAISY philosophy and make DAISY books available worldwide. There are about forty countries including Sri Lanka either full or associate members of the consortium, dedicated to the production and dissemination of Digital Talking Books [DTB] in DAISY format worldwide. DAISY DTBs make it easy to find the way to the book, chapters, subheadings, paragraphs, sentences and even a word or page in an instant. There are six types of DAISY DTBs ranging from voice only to synchronised voice and text formats. One can listen to a DTB, listen and see it simultaneously or read it on a Braille display. DAISY Lanka Foundation was established in Sri Lanka to implement the DAISY programme. The Chairman, Vice-chairman and some of its other members were trained in India and Thailand in DAISY production and playback techniques. These trainees are now functioning as resource persons in spreading the DAISY philosophy, training DTB production technicians and helping DAISY users utilise hardware and software players to read DAISY books. The facilities for this colloquium were provided by the Advanced Media Technology Centre of the School of Computing at the University of Colombo (UCSC). A project submitted by the DLF was approved by the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) and a grant of five million rupees was awarded to the foundation in March 2006 by His Excellency, The President, Mahinda Rajapaksa that will be used for the production of two hundred DAISY DTBs in Sinhala, Tamil and English. It is also expected to set up a Library consisting of five hundred DTBs by the end of the year 2009. Source: http://daisy.org, http://daisy-for-all.org

i4d | January 2007

India's Premier ICT4D event 31July - 02 August, 2007 Pragati Maidan, New Delhi

www.eINDiA.net.in

Organisers knowledge for change

A report by Goldman Sachs stated that between 2007 and 2020 India will see a structural increase in potential growth to nearly 8%, four times increase in productivity in industry and services as compared to agriculture, four times increase in GDP per capita, and house ten of the fastest growing cities in the world. This report has identified investment to information technology, openness to trade and greater financial deepening as the key drivers to this accelerating growth. While India has made huge strides and has been a key player in the Information technology revolution, vast digital divide still exists that inhibits a sustained all-inclusive growth for the society. India is bracing itself to catalyse the potential of ICTs in all spheres of development and creating opportunities for private investment and initiatives to supplement its development. In this immense growth environment, there is also a need for strategic planning, knowledge sharing and collaborative vision building between the government and the private sector to leverage the country’s growth potential and steer the country to lead the knowledge revolution. eIndia 2007 is an inclusive, consultative and constructive ICT for Development forum – the largest and only one of its kind in India – promoting and propagating the use of ICT4D through its five seminal conferences. Through its five different but interrelated conferences namely, egovIndia2007, Digital Learning India 2007, Indian Telecentre Forum 2007, eHealth India 2007 and mServe India 2007, the conference will address the issues of digital divide and identify and explore opportunities for Digital India.

INDiA

2007

The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has formulated the National e-Governance Plan which aims to bring all government services to the doorstep of each citizen by making the services citizen centric and ensuring that the right people get the benefits. To further bolster the drive towards efficient and transparent governance, the Right to Information Act was passed in late 2005. While these measures are making a positive impact on the governance practices, there are still issues of access, content, partnerships which need to be addressed for creating the desired environment of trust between the state and her citizens. egov India 2007 aims to consolidate the information available in the domain, giving key stakeholders from India and around the world a chance to showcase the progress and highlight hindrances in this field. The conference will shape the debate around egovernance and build the path towards a constructive knowledge sharing platform and the way forward for the Indian egovernance programme.

India is trying to achieve the ‘Education for All’ goal in one hand and investing in building infrastructure and initiating programmes to build a world class human resource capacity on the other. The National Knowledge Commission has emphasised the need for extensive use of ICTs for research, collaboration and university networking for building ICT skills, sharing education resources and reaching the un-reached in higher education though distance learning. The Indian Government has also recognised that skill building and lifelong education has to begin from school and has increased its investment in school education and technology-enabled learning. Taking a cue from the global trends in education and capacity building, India’s progress to a driver of the knowledge revolution through its human capacity is possible only though sustained efforts by the government, global assistance and collaboration and partnerships with private sector and civil society. Digital Learning India 2007 will take on the existing debates and provide a platform for all stakeholders to deliberate on the issues of enabling and strengthening capacities to achieve the national goals of education.

With the launch of a national programme 100,000 Community Service Centres, the Indian telecentre movement is at a vibrant stage of development, with the key stakeholders representing government, private sector and civil society besides donors being engaged in fulfilling the aspirations of the grassroots community to join the knowledge economy. Technological innovations to improve access have begun to get tested for emerging markets/ emerging people. Civil society is piloting and testing role of upscaled ICTs and telecentres/ public access knowledge centres to fulfil social objectives, provide access to governance and empower the communities, at a scale un-thought of anywhere else in the world. How exactly will we measure the progress, and monitor the impacts? Second year in the series of annual consultations, the Indian Telecentre Forum 2007 will provide the platform to take stock of what has happened. The Forum will shape the way forward for the telecentre movement within India, and for creating an example for the world to learn from.

Telemedicine has been a technological takeaway for the developed countries. Defined as the use of communication networks for the exchange healthcare information to enable clinical care, it is increasingly being viewed as a tool for improving care and enhancing access to healthcare. One of the major ehealth initiative in India was executed by the Indian Space Research Organisation. ISRO took up the initiative of telemedicine in the year 2001 to further expand the application of INSAT to newer areas with the specific aim of bringing in the expert medical facilities to the grassroots level population.Telemedicine helps to connect remote rural hospitals/health centres to super specialty hospitals located in the cities and helps patients in remote and rural areas to avail timely consultations from specialist doctors without the ordeal of travelling.

The Indian telecom sector after liberalisation has shown tremendous growth with its growth rate being one of the highest in the world. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has said the total number of telephone subscribers in India had hit 189.9 million, of which 149.5 million are mobile customers.The mobile phones apart from bringing in the aspect of mobility in connectivity have an inherent ease in terms of usage unlike computer-based connectivity, which requires people to be literate and eLiterate at the same time. The immense growth has also meant that the cost-perequipment has also come down drastically. This growth though, has been lopsided and the mobile revolution has been limited to urban areas primarily.The rural areas have remained untouched and in a nation which is plagued by connectivity lapses, mobile technology may well emerge as the key to bridging the digital divide.

eHealth India 2007 will deliberate on such initiatives and many other excellent though scattered efforts in this field and bring it together to form a conduit of critical information.

mServe India 2007 will showcase the immense potential of mobile technology in the implementation of existing and future m-Government, education, agriculture and other applications.

Past Sponsors and Exhibitors empowering education... enabling careers

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Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS), G-4, Sector - 39, Noida, Uttar Pradesh - 201301 Phones: +91-120-2502180-85 Fax: 91-120-2500060

For any information/enquiry contact Sulakshana Bhattacharya Tel: +91-9811925253 email: sulakshana@eINDiA.net.in

www.eINDiA.net.in

Vol. V No. 1

January 2007

Information for development www.i4donline.net

Agriculture

e-Commerce

rce me om e-C

e-Governance

egov

Narrow casting project for Indian farmers

Biometric ATMs for rural sector

Nepal Government prepares e-Governance master plan

The Indian Government is planning to implement Narrow casting project across the country to provide relevant information to the villagers on subjects like agriculture, health and education. They have identified 12 transmission areas to telecast region specific programme in 12 states across the country. The project has already implemented in 11 states of the nation in the previous stage telecasting agricultural programmes, six days in a week. In Narrow cast mode, agriculture programmes are to telecast 5 days a week through 180 transmitters reaching more than 140 districts across the country.

Union Bank of India, Dena Bank and Central Bank of India are planning to install biometric automated teller machine (ATM) to provide banking services for rural customers of India. Corporation bank, Andhra Bank and Canara Bank have also shown keen interest in rolling out a pilot study by introducing biometric ATM. These biometric ATMs would be used as tool for financial inclusion. According to MV Nair, Chairman and Managing Director of Union Bank of India, the main focus is to install these biometric ATMS in rural markets. The new biometric ATMs will provide banking services for illiterate people. The Executive Director of Central Bank, K Subbaraman told, the bank is planning to install firstly in rural areas of Bihar and further to be installed in urban areas too.

The Nepal Government has prepared eGovernment master plan to create effective and productive e-Governance through the application of ICT. The Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MoEST) has prepared the plan with the technical assistance of Korea IT Industry Promotion Agency (KIPA). The plan will take place in 3 stages of ICT development by 2011.The plan is divided in three phases; ‘As is Analysis’, ‘To be Model’ and ‘Establishment Plan’. The master plan has strongly recommended building infrastructure and human resources development. The first phase of the plan is related with ICT policies and laws. The plan also includes online-processing of administrative procedures, knowledge based government, saving of time, continuous service oriented process reform and systematic flow of information, drastic reduction of paper work, online processing of international trading, and logistics and enterprise undertaking/operating services. The South Korean government provided US$2 million to prepare the plan. According to the document, Nepal will introduce an ICT-related curriculum for secondary education, expand provision of e-Learning, provide ICT training for bureaucrats, introduce an Informatisation Village and improve computer literacy.

PIB

Community radio

Indian Government plans to computerise 188 AIR stations/offices The Indian Government is planning to computerise ‘Akashvani Kendras’ (All India Radio stations) for providing better services in India. Government is computerising AIR stations/offices under two schemes of 10th plan. According to Scheme (I), the computerisation of 38 AIR stations not having computers, in which government will provide 68 desktop computers with peripherals at an estimated cost of INR 4.1 million. While according to Scheme (II), the Computerisation of 188 AIR stations/ offices that, has a provision of 414 number of desktop computers with peripherals and networking, at an estimated cost of INR 39 million. PIB January 2007 | www.i4donline.net

Financial Express

DataWiz launches mobile banking technology for banks DataWiz Technologies has launched software for banks to provide mobile banking service to their customers. DataWiz Technologies, Texas-based service provider, has launched the software, which will allow banks to provide mobile banking service to their customers. Mobile Banker will allow their customers to interact with their banks by using any Internet-ready mobile phone, PDA, or PC. Customers would be able to view account information, generate transaction, make bill payments and apply for loans. Bank Net

www.gorkhapatra

e-Justice programme launched in Islamabad The e-Justice programme was launched in Islamabad on 8 December 2006. The Federal Minister for Information

The i4d News

Aptech opens e-Learning and tech training hub in Malaysia Mumbai based IT education group, Aptech Ltd has launched its eLearning and training centre in Malaysia. Aptech is investing RM20 million to develop e-Learning and high-end technology training services in Malaysia. According to Pramod Khera, Chief Executive Officer of Aptech, the organisation has already utilised RM2 million to set up high end training centre in Kuala Lumpur. Aptech has already its training centres in India, China, South Africa, the United States and Europe. Aptech is partnering with the Human Resource Development Corporation and Cosmopoint College to market its high-end training solutions to local corporations and other institutions of higher learning.

www.onlinenews.com

WB Government, India launches kiosks in rural areas West Bengal (WB) Government has launched two kiosks named ‘Tathya Mitra’ at the gram panchayat level in two districts of the state in India. The State government has launched two kiosks at the gram panchayat level in two districts to assess information needs of the rural people and viability and sustainability of their operation on commercial basis through women self help groups. Chief Minister of WB, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has launched the kiosks.

General

Third EU-SouthEast Asia ICT research in Bangkok

These kiosks will help to deliver the shared visions of Microsoft and the state government to employ the benefits of ICT to catalyse progress and access to information, education, e-Governance, telemedicine services amongst others within the rural area. According to Chief Minister, Microsoft has provided the IT infrastructure, technology, connectivity and training support for the two kiosks at Pipulberia in East Midnapore and at Kankalitala GP in Birbhum district. Microsoft and departments of panchayat and rural development under National eGovernance plan (NEGP) has implemented the common service centre project to empower the rural community in the state. Zee News

ICTA

www.theedgedaily

technology, Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari has inaugurated a massive e-Justice programme to enable the country’s bar association to have an easy access statutes and case laws. The first phase of the project is to inaugurate the automation of Multan District Bar Association, which will allow other 30 bar associations of Punjab province for online access of legal information. Among the beneficiaries of the previous programme were 31 bar associations of Punjab, 16 from Sindh, 21 from NWFP, three from Balochistan besides nine tax bar associations and three registry offices of the Lahore High Court. The e-Justice programme is part of the massive e-Government Programme launched by the federal government to increase efficiency and effectiveness of the government, increase transparency and accountability in decision making. The ministry of information technology has launched the project at a cost of Pakistan Rupees 40 million to automate all bar associations, including offices of the higher judiciary, in the country.

to build and encourage service excellence skills for people who are looking for careers in a growing and vibrant sector.

Education

Sri Lanka successfully conducted ‘train-the-trainer’ programme The Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) has announced the successful results of recently conducted ‘train-the-trainer’ programme. The ICTA , functioning under the Presidential Secretariat conducted the ‘train-the-trainer’ programme for a group of selected trainers who underwent an intensive 10-day training and certification programme. The ‘train-the-trainer’ programme is focused on customer care and excellence. The programme was supported by ITESA, the Business Process Association of Sri Lanka whose membership represents, Sri Lanka’s largest employers within the technology and service sector. The main focus of 10 day programme was

The third EU-SouthEast Asia ICT research collaboration conference will take place in Bangkok, Thailand from 29 to 31 January. The main aim of the conference is to bring together SouthEast Asian and European researchers from academic and industry to establish new partners and promote new opportunities for joint research initiatives. The technical theme of the conference is to focus on the eight priority areas for ICT call of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), as well as national and regional (ASEAN) research priorities. ENGAGE is orgainsing the conference under the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) to encourage and enhance ICT research collaboration between the EU and countries of Southeast Asia. cordis.europa.eu

ICT congress receives RM3.6 million from Microsoft Malaysia The World Congress on Information Technology 2008, has received a boost of RM3.6 million (US $1 million) from Microsoft Malaysia. Malaysia is hosting the 16th edition of the world’s most prestigious ICT event. WCIT 2008 Sdn Bhd has partnered with Microsoft Malaysia. The WCIT 2008 Sdn Bhd is a joint venture between Malaysian Development Corporation and the Association of the Computer and Multimedia Industries of Malaysia (Pikom). According to Dan E. Khoo, the Chief Executive Officer of WCIT 2008, the Microsoft Malaysia will contribute in the form of cash, services and technology. It is expected that WCIT 2008 event will draw over 2,500 leaders in business, government and academic from over 80 countries. www.nst.com.my

Yunus brings ICT for the poor The Professor Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize winner has announced about the involvement of International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and some of the i4d | January 2007

The i4d News world’s biggest tele-communications companies to bring ICT for helping poor people of Bangladesh. Yunus is aiming to combine the power of ICT with micro-financing to help poor people for earning suitable incomes. The programme is partnered with Grameen Bank micro-credit program, which provides small loans at low interest rates for poor people of Bangladesh. Grameen-Bank is reaching more than 3000 micro finance organisations and 100 million borrowers world wide, while ITU is supporting its 191 member states and some 650 private sector members from around the world. ZD Net Asia

TSL plans to develop disaster recovery unit in Bangalore The provider of integrated telecom solutions and products for the wireless cell phone market, Tanla Solutions Limited (TSL) is planning to set up a high tech back up and disaster recovery centre in Bangalore. TSL is planning to set up the centre at a cost of INR 150 million. The centre will provide emergency level back up to support critical business requirements in case of disaster at Hyderabad centre affecting the functioning of TSL’s domestic and global delivery centres. According to TSL Director Amit Gupta, TSL will also invest INR 780 million for setting up infrastructure facilities for further development in Research and Development centre at Hyderabad. TSL is planning to invest INR 220 million for improving product development facilities in wide range of cell phone services. Deccan Herald

Health

Wireless Phone system for Canadian doctors Vocera Communications, a wireless communications solutions company, has partnered with Xwave, a division of Bell Aliant, one of Canada’s largest information and communications technology (ICT) providers to provide wireless phone service for doctors and nurses of Canada. The Vocera Communication System will instantly connect people with one another and allow them to quickly access patient information in anytime and anywhere. The system will provide instant communication through a combination of wireless local area network (LAN), Voice-over-IP (VoIP) and January 2007 | www.i4donline.net

Siemens presents electronic healthcare card at Medica 2006 Siemens presented the integrated health care card, a patient based solutions at Medica 2006 under the title “A Holistic View with a Focus on Benefits.” The integrated card is more than plastic card, is an opportunity for modern healthcare system. Siemens has developed this web based IT solution, which will support and optimise flow of information and integrate new communication media into existing treatment processes and systems for all sectors. The modular solution will enable the electronic patient record, communication and teleconsultation among participants, online appointment scheduling, consent management, and much more. Its solution will help to simplify processes, eliminate work steps and improve the quality of healthcare for patients. Germany is already using the Syngo Suit from Siemens. According to doctors, about 95 percent of all diagnostic reports is created by using an automatic voice recognition system. www.mtbeurope.info

speech-recognition technology. The Xwave will provide professional and value-added reselling services across Canada and the United States. The companies will collaborate with healthcare and other public- and private-sector clients to design, implement and support targeted wireless communications solutions. According to Paul Scott, Vice President of Sales, Vocera Communications, the company will deliver high-value solutions to Canadian institutions. The hands-free wireless solution will offer personal healthcare in various terms like mobility, information access and ability to attend to patients. wirelesshealthcare.co.uk

Livelihood

ChildLine: the helpline service for children of India ChildLine India is group for helping children, which provides a free, emergency phone numbers to children to call on a crisis available for 24 hours a day across India. ChildLine India is working with UNICEF, and government agencies to reach all children who are in danger. The call centres of ChildLine are spread across India. According to the group, ChildLine has taken more than 4.5 millions calls from all over India. ChildLine has 1, 500 social workers and 155 child rights leaders who operate 75 ChildLine call centres, contact 55 support service bases and reach out to 2,000 children everyday. ChildLine has centres in 73 cities in 22 states, and it is estimated that 20 percent of the world’s

helpline calls are in India on the 1098 phone lines. ChildLine is also organising discussions for innovative ways to spread the message. www.govtech.net

m-Serve

LILA technology enable to learn Indian languages on mobile phone Pune based C-DAC has joined with Mumbai based mobile technology company, Enable M to develop a technology for learning Indian languages through artificial intelligence or on mobile phones. The technology named, Learn Indian Language through Artificial Intelligence (LILA) provides the facility to read and listen to the sound of Devanagiri, just as it is used in Hindi. LILA has also ability to understand the word format and pronunciation of words in Hindi as well as vocabulary for commonly used words and look up Hindi-English dictionary. The Hindi sentence structure patterns are exposed with a relative English version. There are exercise and practice sessions, available for users to make LILA as user friendly. It also includes narrative sessions of lesson with video clips. Further, the translation of Hindi sentence can be seen on the screen. The LILA Hindi Prabodh is already available on mobile handsets through MultiMedia Cards (MMC). According to spokesperson of C-DAC, the LILA is easy way of learning Hindi through multimedia (audio and video interface). www.techtree.com

The i4d News Ghana Government plans to construct IT superhighway

Internet to rural areas by Indian NGO An Indian NGO, Sonet has teamed up with an Israeli firm, Radwin to provide Internet connectivity in rural areas of India. It would help villagers reap benefits of e-Learning and telemedicine. Israeli firm Radwin announced that its WinLink 1000 systems was chosen by the Indian NGO. Sonet and its Indian partner, VLink Systems will implement the project. Sonet and RADWIN are making a tremendous impact on the lives of thousands of residents in the region by giving them access to information and services that were previously unavailable as stated by Ravi Codala, IT Manager of Sonet. The Hindu

Read Newspaper on your mobile phone Now, mobile phone users can enjoy newspapers on their mobile screens. Cell Next Solutions, a value added service provider on mobile phones has created software, which would enable newspapers to appear on mobile screens. CellNext has created a multimedia publishing platform that would allow publishers to put their products on the screens. The technology, M-paper is supported in SMS technology, which will allow users to view full stories with images and audio facility. The facility will offer about 20 to 25 stories along with 5 photographs in a single package. Initially, the service would be available in English only; later on it would be available in Hindi and other regional languages as well. According to Ajay Vaishnavi, chief operating officer of Cell Next, the mobile phones with MMS technology only would be able to avail the service. While GSM users will also be able to use the service, but CDMA users have to still wait for the service.

Technology

Cisco and IDA expands technology in Singapore Cisco(R) and the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) have expanded their technology collaboration to advance Internet Protocol (IP) networking in Singapore. Both companies have signed a Memorandum of Intent (MOI) in October 2005 to enhance current and future collaborations to identify, develop and deploy innovative converged infocomm

applications in Singapore. The new agreement is signed between Cisco Systems(R) International, BV, and the IDA, which explores and implements technologies that will help achieve a ubiquitous computing environment and fuel greater innovation of next-generation networking solutions in Singapore. Cisco has participated in projects to transform and enable key clusters such as education and healthcare. digital50.com

Telecommunication

Thai ICT Ministry accelerates restructuring of telecom concession project The ICT Ministry is accelerating the restructuring of telecommunication concession project for privatization of telecommunication in the future in Thailand. According to the ICT Minister, the two giant mobile operators Total Access Communication Plc. and True Move had proposed solutions to the concession fee problem. The ICT Ministry is planning to restructure the whole concession project to prepare for the future telecommunication privatization. ICT is accelerating the restructuring of telecommunication concession project to prepare for telecommunication privatization in the future. The ministry will solve the problem; the telecommunication contractors will get new content for new contract and stick with the principle of benefiting consumers with minimal damage to state agencies. All companies will operate under the same system and the same contract. www.thaisnews.com

Ghana Government is planning to begin the construction of a $90-million national Information Technology (IT) superhighway to serve as a national fibre backbone for the country’s telecommunication sector. The IT superhighway will serve as convergence point for the easy access of telephone and IT connectivity in the country. The Parliament has also approved another $40 million loan for an electronic governance (e-Governance) project, which will facilitate from policy formulation, policy implementation and policy appraisal at every stage of governance and administration in the country. The government is planning to open community information centres in every community to provide easy access to IT and Internet services in rural communities. Government has already installed Braille system for Internet services for blind people. www.graphicghana.info

Wireless

VSNL Singapore offers VoIP services to Yahoo VSNL Singapore announced that the company will provide voice peering and termination services on a global basis to Internet company Yahoo! VSNL Singapore Pvt Ltd has contracted with Yahoo! to allow the exchange of VoIP services and retail call termination for Yahoo!’s voice services. Yahoo! will use VSNL’s Teleglobe VoiIPLink service which will allow interoperability between VoIP networks, to terminate traffic anywhere in the world. The Business Line

Ipoh: the first Malaysian city to offer Wi-Fi facility Ipoh is set to be first city in the Malaysia to offer free wireless broadband facility to Internet users. The State Government is also expecting to introduce the service in all major cities of the state by April. The Government has allocated RM20 million annually for the development of IT in Perak. RM1 million would be used to educate the public and create awareness on the importance of IT, especially among rural folk. www.nst.com.my i4d | January 2007

January 2007

ICTD Project Newsletter

e-District: The Emerging Future Governments around the world are rushing to embrace e-Governance. The benefits of technology are being harnessed to change the traditional mode of functioning and service delivery. Since a majority of the services to citizens are provided at the district and block level the transformation has to start at the district level

n 13 June 1999 the Government of Tamil Nadu took a historic decision of declaring Tiruvarur district as a pilot eDistrict. This was a momentous step since five months prior to this date, the district had only one computer which was still lying in its packing box. On the initiative of the District Collector a slew of e-Governance measures were initiated. In a span of two years there was 85 percent automation of government offices with the number of computers going up from one computer to 311 computers, including 32 servers, in 20 offices like taluk, block and District Rural Development offices. By December 1999, Tiruvarur district developed more than 20 software packages and even created standards for eGovernance software to follow. Similarly in Palakkad district of Kerala the DC*Suite application was implemented. It is a suite of applications for the Collectorate based on an integrated solution architecture covering all functional areas and activities of the Collectorate. The major areas covered are:

• • • • • • • • • • • •

Development Works File Management License Information Natural Calamity Management Public Grievances Revenue Recovery Management Pay roll & Personnel Management Land Management Inventory Management Financial Management Certificates Pension Schemes

• • • •

Court Case Management Assets Management Elections and Electoral Analysis Law and Order

The DC*Suite was inaugurated in Oct 2004. The applications, which are of public interest, are available through Internet, IVR and touch screen kiosks. Such initiatives as described above are transforming the way government traditionally interacts

Government service delivery at the villager’s door step

www.nisg.org

Make ICTs Work for People

Facilitating rural citizens to interact with government

with citizens and transacts business. e-Governance is an emerging area wherein technology has been applied to transform the relationship of Government with citizens, businesses and its employees. Technology can serve a variety of different ends: faster delivery of government services to citizens, improved interaction with business and industry, citizen empowerment through access to information or more efficient management of the government. It has almost become a truism that ICT can play a major role in improving the efficiency of government services and effectiveness in government service delivery.

Gyandoot in Dhar district of MP, Fatehabad district in Haryana, Community Information Centres (CIC) project in the 8 north-eastern states, etc. The village of Bellandur on the outskirts of Bangalore is credited with being the first gram panchayat to introduce eGovernance. Considering its importance the Union Government is likely to add a new project called â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;e-districtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; to

the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) to cover local high-volume services. E-district will include large number of applications that citizens come to Government for, which are high volume and involve low processing. These could include applications for ration cards, birth and death certificates, application for house site and old age pension, and caste certificate. It will encompass all welfare benefit programmes including National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG) scheme. E-district would be implemented as an integrated sector project through the State Governments and those applications which have not been covered under existing MMPs would be included under the new project. The proposal to add the eDistrict project to the existing list of 26 MMPs was given an in-principle go-ahead on June 13, 2006 by an Apex Committee chaired by the Cabinet Secretary. At present, NeGP covers 26 MMPs and eight support components to

e-District The concept of e-District is a subset of the broader area of eGovernance. It is the application of technology in e-Governance from the district level downwards since 90 percent of services are delivered at the local/district level. Starting with the Tiruvarur initiative there have been a number of e-District programmes that have been implemented in different states of the country like

Enabling smooth G2C services

www.nisg.org

Genesis of e-District “It is Government’s intention to bring a number of services online, in a web-based mode, including applications under the Right to Information Act, applications for house sites, ration cards, transfers of teachers, inclusion in the electoral roll, filing of police complaint, and issue of birth/death certificates and copies of land records” – Union Budget 20062007

Scope and Objectives Scope: The project scope is to integrate various departments of the districts so as to provide seamless services to the citizens. e-District can be defined as a district where more than 75 percent of the services from the Collectorate are ICT enabled. Objectives (i) To ensure backend computerization to enable efficient delivery of government services. Front ends under the scheme are only being built at District, Tehsil, Sub division and block level, in the form of citizen facilitation counters. Rural linkage would be established with CSCs for delivery of services. (ii) To proactively provide a system of spreading information on the Government schemes; planned developmental activities; and status of current activities. Stakeholders: State Government would closely work with Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology to seek over all guidance and implementation

Empowered Citizens

monitoring agency. District administration would also work very closely with the project implementation partner to undertake the field work, comprehend the requirements, document the observations, prepare roadmap, redesign the processes, and help build capacity for the staff and executive resources of the district administration. District administration and project implementation partner would also work closely with the technical solution provider for developing and customizing the software, implement the technical solution. Services Planned: (i)

(ii)

Certificates: Creation and distribution of certificates for income, domicile, caste, Birth, Death, etc. Licenses: Arms Licenses, etc

(iii) PDS: Issue of Ration Card, etc. (iv)

Social Welfare Schemes: Issue of old age pensions,

family pensions, widow pensions, etc. (v)

Complaints: related to unfair prices, absentee teacher, non-availability of doctor. Online filing and receipt of Information relating to the Right to information Act.

(vi)

Linking with other e-Government Projects: Registration, Land Records, Driving Licenses, etc.

(vii) Information Dissemination: Disseminating Information relating to government schemes, entitlements etc. (viii) Assessment of Taxes: Property tax, and other government taxes (ix)

Utility Payment: Payments relating to electricity, water bills property taxes, etc.

Process Reengineering: For successful implementation of eDistricts, the redesigning of the existing processes and delivery

www.nisg.org

Make ICTs Work for People

be implemented at the Central, State and Local Government levels.

Make ICTs Work for People 32

mechanism, to facilitate an efficient and effective service delivery structure, has been identified as a key activity. A Project Consultant would be appointed for process reengineering and for handholding of the District Administration for successful implementation of the project. The actual application would be developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC).

by the Chief Secretary/Additional Chief Secretary to provide overall direction and for deciding on process reengineering. It is recommended that an e-Governance society be formed at the district and state level which would take over the operation and maintenance of the assets after installation. Money for the same would be collected through levy of user charges.

Implementation Framework: There would be a State Project Management Committee headed

Current Status: e-Districts are being implemented on a pilot basis in two states - UP and Assam and

the Apex Committee has decided that E-district should be taken up as a National Mission Mode Project in consultation with the States. The DIT is currently preparing a draft project report which would be discussed with State Governments before finalization of the e-District MMP ICTD

NISG and i4d jointly hold the copyright to the articles printed in the ICTD section of the i4d magazine and website. For permission to reprint the articles please write to the Editor i4d.

The Tiruvarur Initiative Tiruvarur, a riparian district in the Cauvery delta, was carved out of Thanjavur and Nagapattinam districts on 1 Jan 1997. Wetland agriculture is the backbone of the economy. The district, with a population of about 1.1 million, has a very high level of poverty and associated backwardness. But the poverty and backwardness of the district has not come in the way of e-Governance initiatives. In Feb 1999 the transformation from manual governance to e-Governance began. The district did not receive any funds from the state budget for this initiative. A non-profit organisation, District Welfare Committee was floated and funds to the tune of INR 25 million was mobilised to implement the e-Governance programme. The Members of State legislature (MLAs) and Members of Parliament (MPs) contributed nearly half the sum mentioned above from their Local Area Development funds. Four software development centres were set up in the District Collectorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s office itself employing around 30 software professionals. The district also had ushered in a Wi-Fi revolution by setting up the first wireless LAN (on 802.11b standard) connecting all the 20 offices in 14 different locations. The major beneficiaries were agriculturists, land owners, students, widows, agricultural labourers above 65 years of age, schools, local body population, rural population, below poverty line people benefiting from social welfare schemes such as

marriage assistance scheme, pregnant women assistance scheme etc. To educate the citizens that they could avail online services in the Taluk and block offices, a special campaign in the name of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Power of eGovernanceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; was organized in eight places, starting from 30th September 2000. The modus operandi was to move the Taluk office server from the Taluk office to a public place such as marriage hall on the day prior to the campaign. Through advertisement and publicity the citizens were requested to come to the campaign centre to avail of the online services. The promise was that the services would be provided within a maximum of 2 hours, including enquiry time, if any and no paper based register would be used in the whole exercise. This campaign was greeted with huge success. In each such campaign the office concerned could transact work equivalent to nearly 6 months turnover. In 2000 Tiruvarur district conducted its first online annual audit of village accounts, reducing the necessity for village administrative officers to manually input 10 different kinds of accounts. In February 2001, Tiruvarur initiated an online data warehouse containing all local land records, as well as information for the public on the old age pension scheme, cultivation and harvest details, and other data.

www.nisg.org

S TRATEGIES

AND

P OLICIES

Towards ‘K’-Malaysia

Migration to K-Malaysia implies achieving a K-Society and a K-Economy. And both are equally important. This is premised on: •

Expanding the Malaysian Growth with Equity model

•

Building the Digital Bridge for equitable wealth distribution

•

Enhancement of Quality of Life of all Malaysians

‘To evolve a values-based knowledge society in the Malaysian mould where the society is rich in information, empowered by knowledge, infused with a distinctive value-system and is self-governing.’ - NITC, Malaysia Source: http://www.globalknowledge.ru/GKRussia/doc/John_en.ppt

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Bytes for All... Free screenplay editing and scripting software If one writes screenplays for film, video, theatre, and animation for Windows, OSX or Linux, Celtx is the tool for you. Creators say, “Celtx has an industry standard screenplay editor with all of the features writers need to keep their fingers moving, like intuitive formatting, text auto-complete, pagination, script styles, CAPS selection, scene management, spellchecker, embedded notes, find and replace, and PDF generation.” Courtesy: George Lessard, http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/9210

Pakistan: wireless rural connectivity buzz Local and international experts gathered in Lahore, Pakistan for a two-day workshop discussing the potential for wireless connectivity to connect rural areas. Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) invited Malcolm Matson (OPLAN UK), Jim Forster (Cisco), and Vickram Crishna (India) who stressed the need for creating a network project in a local community. Local industry leaders deliberated case scenarios for Pakistan. The event, a first, was supported by Intel, Cisco, FOSS Pakistan and BytesForAll Network South Asia. Courtesy: Fouad Riaz Bajwa, http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/9213

India: women and ICT enterprises Nearly 150 women entrepreneurs met in Tamil Nadu, India, to exchange ideas and opportunities ICTs offer them. The two-day workshop titled “Women Run ICT Enterprises” was organised by the Indian Association for Women in IT (IAWIT). Speakers from leading IT and tech firms briefed participants on their entrepreneurial experience citing cases in call centres, self-help groups, digital publishing, disaster recovery, etc. Courtesy: Kris Dev, http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/9217

ICT solution exchange eMail group Sai Sreekanth makes invitation to join a solution exchange group on ICT for Development community in India spearheaded by the UN. Sign up here: http://www.solutionexchange-un.net.in/index.htm Courtesy: Sai Sreekanth, http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/9228

Radio Sagarmatha wins AMARC prize Radio Sagarmatha, the pioneering Kathmandu-based community radio broadcaster, has been awarded the AMARC International Solidarity Prize 2006 in recognition of its outstanding work in defence of human rights and democracy in Nepal. The Prize is

awarded every four years. The AMARC International Solidarity Prize was accepted in Amman by Mohan Bista, Durga Karki and Raghu Mainali on behalf of all of the independent radio in Nepal. Courtesy: Bazlur Rahman, http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/9239

e-Content Roadmap for India Feedback is invited for the ‘e-Content Roadmap for India’ prepared by the Digital Empowerment Foundation as an outcome of International Conference on e-Commerce and sustainability. The document is a draft guideline for content creators, activists, policymakers and ICT-related individuals who are sharing community ecosystems. Courtesy: Osama Manzar, http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/9241

Linspire out in ME and Africa Linspire, Inc., developer of the commercial desktop Linux operating system, announced a strategic partnership today with Business International to bring Linspire’s desktop Linux operating system to the Middle East and African markets. Headed by former Microsoft ME Executive, Mohamad Jarrar, Business International is positioned to bring desktop Linux to the growing emerging markets in the Middle East and African countries. Business International will focus efforts in Algeria, Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, India, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Yemen and more. Courtesy: Badar Khushnood, http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/9246

Translate.org wins African ICT Achiever Translate.org.za has won the prestigious African ICT Achiever 2006 Award for bridging the digital divide in Africa by breaking down the language barrier! Translate.org.za’s work has included the translation of computer software into the elevan official languages of South Africa using locally based translators; and more recently the creation of the first all-South African language keyboard – a world first! Courtesy: Frederick Noronha, http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/9251

Dataquest launches e-Gov Awards The second ‘Dataquest e-Gov Champion Awards’ are now inviting entries. The Award is a salutation to the ‘change leaders’ in the government who make a difference in people’s life through technology intervention, thereby ensuring ‘Good Governance’ at the local, regional and national level. A jury comprising industry experts, senior government officials, academicians and civil society i4d | January 2007

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Bytes for All... would select the champions. For more details see www. dqegovsummit.net

registered participants will get new confirmation and visa letter by 10 January 2007.

Courtesy: Shubhendu Parth, http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/9278

Courtesy: Reza Salim, http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/9288?var=1

City surfers love wikimapia.org

How expensive can radios be?

Using mobile devices, travellers can log in to Wikimapia.org and get local information. Launched in May 2006 by two Russians. Alexandre Koriakine and Evgeniy Saveliev, it combines the simplicity of Wikis with Google Maps. According to Ridhi D Cruz, Mumbai is the most mapped city on the planet.

“Weighing only about 12 kgs and making a hole of about only Rs.5000 in your pocket, this radio station is being prepared by three students Kamal, Vikas and Dayal from Haryana. One can listen to the waves till 15 kms and none of the material used in its manufacturing is imported. All the material was procured from the local markets of Ambala,” writes Shubhranshu Choudhary in cgnet. BFA reader Vickram Crishna does not agree it’s the answer we’ve been waiting for, “Sometimes, bigger transmitters are needed, just to reach more people in the same area who would otherwise be left out of touch. This is definitely a lot more expensive, not just to install, but also to maintain. One solution does not fit all, there is wisdom in diversity.”

Courtesy: Frederick Noronha, http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/9280?var=1

VoIP guide for developing nations IT +46 announced the release of a new guide to support the spread of low-cost communications in the poorest parts of the world. This free guide to Voice over IP, available in four major languages, is an effort to disseminate the use of telephony over the Internet in developing regions. The 40-page guide targets both technical and non-technical readers. The first part presents the essentials of telephony over the Internet. For those interested in the more technical details, hands-on guidelines and configuration files are included in the second part. The examples provide essential background to build your own low-cost telephony system. See: www.voip4d.it46.se Courtesy: Jamil Ahmed, http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/9283?var=1

View from Lanka For Sri Lanka, a new network space is open dedicated to advocacy, disabilities, disaster management, human rights, poverty and related fields. A project of the Centre for Policy Alternatives’ Media Unit, Groundviews aims to be a catalyst for those in support of peace as well as a portal for alternative news and information on peace and conflict in Sri Lanka. The website will accept and display short articles and features in Sinhala, Tamil and English. Creators promise the content is fresh and engaging. See: www.groundviews.lk Courtesy: Sanjana Hattotuwa, http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/9287?var=1

New dates for KM4Dev The KM4Dev workshop being held in Bangladesh is rescheduled. “Due to Bangladesh multifaceted political situation and forthcoming national election we are shifting the dates of KM4Dev Workshop and third Amader Gram Knowledge Fair,” say organisers. The Workshop will be held from February 7-8 in Khulna and the Fair on February 9 in Bagerhat. The Speakers, Case Study Presenter and January 2007 | www.i4donline.net

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/9317

Discuss Telecentres in Pakistan PTI is a civil society group supporting Pakistan’s rural Telecentre movement. The World Bank, Government of Pakistan and Telecom Companies are contributing to a fund of Pakistani Rupees 100 Billion for funding possibly 40,000 Telecentre deployments throughout Pakistan. PTI invites participation from stakeholders towards developing this group as a Telecentre Knowledge Management Resource (KMR) for efficiently managing and improving the Telecentres Movement in the country. Join PTI at http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Telecenters/join

Student 3D Portal Autodesk Inc. has announced the launch of its Global Student Engineering and Design Community portal. This portal will provide students in the field of architecture, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, gaming and animation and industrial design free access to Autodesk software and at the same time offer them an opportunity to communicate and collaborate with students across the globe. As of today, more than 1,100 universities across 54 countries are part of Autodesk’s student community portal. See: students.autodesk.com Courtesy: Frederick Noronha http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/9349

Bytes for All: www.bytesforall.net Bytes For All Readers Discussion: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ bytesforall_readers Bytes for All Summary Archive: http://www.bytesforall.net/Summary/ Bytes for All discussion summary compiled by: Zunaira Durrani, Bytes for All, USA

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RENDEZVOUS B UILDING ICT C APACITIES @THE G RASSROOTS , 23 - 24 N OVEMBER 2006, N EW D ELHI (I NDIA )

Creating grassrootscorporate linkages The NASSCOM Foundation (NF) organised a National Consultation “Building ICT Capacities@the Grassroots” on 23 and 24 November 2006 at New Delhi (India). The consultation focused on various aspects of ICT for development projects with a special emphasis on knowledge centres. It addressed issues such

proceedings were in English, for the convenience of grassroots level participants. The consultation began with a welcome note by Saurabh Srivastava, Chairman, NF, where he reiterated NF’s belief that ICT helps under-served population access information, services and opportunities which build their capacities to realize their

as cross-sectoral linkages, content and services, path to sustainability for community based centres and awareness on HIV/AIDS with respect to knowledge centres. The consultation saw the participation of over 70 knowledge centre coordinators, representing over 60 districts from 8 coastal states of India. NF had also attempted to bring the IT industry to the consultation with the aim to explore synergies with their corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects and ongoing grassroots projects. NF had arranged for simultaneous translation of all proceedings in Hindi as well since most of the

potential. He informed that the setting up of knowledge centres is aligned with this goal of NF. He told that the consultation was intended to discuss and deliberate on the way forward in using ICT for development and thus called upon the members to participate actively to make the consultation a true success. Satyanarayana, Chief Executive Officer, National Institute of Smart Government (NISG), in his keynote address remarked that, “ICT has the power that needs to be transferred in a meaningful way. ICTs have made a positive impact in all spheres of development- education, health care,

governance and so on.” However, he pointed out that these benefits are yet to be percolated down to the rural areas, which is a cause of grave concern. To rectify this scenario, Government of India has planned to implement, under its National eGovernance Programme (NeGP), 1 lakh Community Service Centres (CSCs), across India with the “goal to take ICT to the doorsteps of the common man”. According to Satyanarayana, in implementing CSCs, two aspects that are very important but most difficult to implement, are content and capacity building. The content needs to be meaningful and relevant to whom it is intended. Also, awareness creation and building the capacity of people to effectively use these services is imperative. At the same time, there is a want of a yardstick to measure the social return of investments in IT for development. Satyanarayana urged NF to take up this responsibility. Maxine Olson, United Nations Resident coordinator, delivered the second keynote address. While congratulating NF for bringing grassroots workers at one forum for an exchange of information, she informed about UNDP which is focusing ICT to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). She gave the example of initiative called Gyan Soochana Kendra in the state of Orissa (India), running with the collaboration of UNDP and NF, aimed for quick dissemination of information among rural population. Olson put forth that the principal of entrepreneurship is very important for the cost effective initiative of ICT for development. Olson then launched the ICT for Development Community of Practice (CoP), as part of the UN’s Solution Exchange initiative. Satyanarayana sent the i4d | January 2007

first query on “How to make people the focal point of the CSC initiative?”, to this CoP of Solution Exchange. Maxine Olson explained that the UN’s Solution Exchange initiative builds CoPs, connecting people with similar concerns and interests through electronic mail groups and face to face interactions, with the common objective of problem solving. It has around 5000 members. Olson told that ICT for Development CoP in Disaster Management and Clean Technologies is UN’s tenth such initiative. She hoped that this community will far exceed the HIV/AIDS membership community, which is the largest till now. Being a free-member community like UN’s other CoPs, any one could become a member of this community by logging on to www.solutionexchange-un.net.in and filling up one’s details in its online membership form. The morning session concluded with the closing remarks by Minja Yange, Director, UNESCO. Yange remarked that the consultation was a common platform, where the participants should make their thoughts and concerns to the forefront and find solutions. UNESCO acts as a facilitator to this solution exchange, told Yange. The next session, ‘PPPs in ICT: Synergies with PRIs’ had leading personalities from the development organisation. The session was chaired by Vikas Goswami from Microsoft. The speakers included Ashok Khosla of NGO TARAhaat, Magasaysay Award winner Rajinder Singh, TBS and Basheerahmad Shadrach, IDRC. Khosla asserted that for good governance there is a need for ICT to build an information network between and among different stakeholdersgovernment, citizens and the industry. Rajinder Singh, also called as the “water Gandhi” for his pioneering initiative of rain water harvesting in Rajasthan, India, put forth the approach ‘development with restoration’. Taking the example of the rain water harvesting efforts by constructing checkdams, storing monsoon-water, he explained how a small change can bring about a revolution. Basheerahmad Shadrach in his address highlighted the role played by local experiments such as GIS for locating social needs and urged that such instruments should be taken very seriously for their use in decision-making process. The stressed that the publicprivate-partnerships (PPP) can strengthen the village level governance structure or the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and ICTs can play a major role in this entire process by making the village as the knowledge centre. He however, pointed out to the 5

January 2007 | www.i4donline.net

important tasks that need to be done using ICTs. These include: making the villages literate, screening villages from life-threatening diseases, monitoring public-private services, reporting the problems

of the villages and making all village-folks ‘knowledge officers’ of their villages. The next session saw the release of NF’s book titled ‘Rural Knowledge Network: Powered by Partnerships’ by NF CEO Rufina Fernandes and Saurabh Srivastava, Chairman, NF. The book comprises of NF’s experiences and learnings on its rural knowledge networks. The session on Sustainability issues in the community telecentre models began with Pradeep Sharma from UNDP sharing his experiences of UNDP in implementing ICT for development projects. He opined that the non-elite use of ICT has become a reality today, and it is time that domain people (from various sectors development, health, education and so on) should ask questions and ICT experts need to provide their responses. Sharma informed that telecentres provides a wide range of services such as phone, fax, internet, entertainment and so forth, and in this way are distinct from the cyber cafes. He mentioned that currently, there are some 35,000 telecentres in India. Regarding their sustainability, he suggested that village run entrepreneurs are not the best way of implementing telecentres since the financial and technical capacity of village dwellers is limited. Sharma pointed out that financial sustainability is always overemphasised in the case of telecentres. He however, cautioned that if one focuses on revenue from telecentre services, one tends to undermine the social returns (such as ration cards, online birth and death registration, details of electoral rolls, e-payments, information on HIV and other such services) of the telecentres, which is huge. Sharma also mentioned about the other another angle of sustainability, that of capacity building of people. Content is also very important aspect, and it should be not only in local language but also should be locally relevant. Another speaker in the sustainability session was Srinivas from the World Ahead Programme of Intel, who spoke on the Intel and VIIT partnership for telecentres. Srinivas informed that accessibility, connectivity and education are the three pillars of World Ahead Programme of which VIIT, Baramati (near Pune, India) is a key partner. The programme is self-sustaining with poor farmers willing

to pay Rs. 300 per year for the telecentre services. Srinivas also informed about Intel’s e-Health initiative called ‘Aarogya Jaal’ in Pune region, where telecentres are being used for affordable healthcare. Regarding sustainability of such telecentres, Srinivas talked about some of the key issues and challenges. These include: need for linking local self-governing bodies to telecentres; financial sustainability remains the key concerns in implementing telecentres; in view of the diversity across regions in India, there could not be a single model that fits all situations and therefore no standard content; creating value of telecentres at the grassroots is a challenge as also the connectivity and proper power back-up. In this regard, Srinivas

informed that Intel has introduced a low-cost community PC to withstand dusty conditions, high temperatures, and disruptive power supply, to suit the needs of the rural areas. The last session of the first day of the consultation was focused on content and services. The speakers in this session included: Michel St. Lot, UNICEF; Ramaraju, Media Lab Asia, Chetan Sharma, Datamation Foundation, Sriram Bharatram, Causeaneffect Foundation, R. Thiruchelvam, Rural-IT.com and Subhi Qureshi, ZMQ. Michel Lot stressed on people’s participation in design and content. He felt that the content should be something that people can relate to their own languages. He remarked that, “India with its diversity is like 600 countries, so there is a need for localized content.” The other speakers briefed the participants about their initiatives of using ICT managed solutions for rural people. The second day of the consultation had the session on ‘Linkages between IT companies and grassroots organisations’ as the first session, moderated by NF Vice-President, Rajdeep Sehrawat. The session addressed issues such as: How technology can be used to benefits the grassroots; are such efforts reaching the beneficiaries; should the CSR look like charity; among others. The speakers were a right mix of leaders and experts from industry, government and civil society. Vikas Goswami from Microsoft talked about why ICT companies focus on ICT as an option for CSR and also summed up some of the Microsoft’s ICT4D projects. According to her ICT companies get involved in such projects for CSR since it matches with their core business area and ICT is what ICT companies know best and hence can provide the best solutions in this space. ICT

companies can provide software, hardware, training curriculum, connectivity, lead to creation of viable livelihood options- rural BPOs, e-Government services and creation of ICT-trained talent pool. In this regard, she mentioned the Project Jyoti, which aims to have 21,000 information-centres by the end of the project. Vijay Thadani of NIIT provided a case study of NIIT’s educational centres for the poor, especially in the rural areas. The project is aimed to use ICT to reduce cost of education. These centres are based on the collaborative learning model, an unconditional access of computers in a playground setting, where children acquire functional computer literacy. The model is now being adopted by countries such as Combodia and Egypt. Suneet Singh Tuli of Datawind, told about the palm-held computer that could be connected to mobile phone for Internet access, which his company has introduced. This is aimed at providing an affordable Internet access, especially for the poor. S. Ramakrishnan, Director General, CDAC, pointed out the importance of partnership between government and IT companies, to reach out to the goal of 1 billion people of India realizing the usability of ICT in their everyday life. Shankar Venkateswaran from American India Foundation, spoke of NGO’s role in making content relevant to the grassroots. He also called upon NGOs to embrace technology to fulfill their goal of development till the grassroots level. The way to go about, according to him, is partnership between industry, government and NGOs. The final session was aimed to build up HIV/AIDS awareness through knowledge centers. Tim McLellan, Country Director, Population Services International, stressed on the use of community radios to spread the awareness on HIV/AIDS. According to him, the community radio has the potential to bring about scale to important issues. Tim emphasized on the importance of communicating the right things and advocated for the targeted intervention for awareness generation about HIV/AIDS. Sonalini Mirchandani from John Hopkins University (JHU) along with Harsha Mehta, also from JHU, demonstrated the ICT based interactive games on HIV/AIDS awareness in local languages. The games are aimed at building awareness among the youth, who are more adoptive to use the new technological tools. Targeting the youth is especially important in India, since here 33 percent new HIV infection is in the age group of 15-29 years. Even globally, young people are at the centre of HIV/AIDS epidemic. Rufina Fernandes summed up the learnings from the consultation and thanking the speakers and participants for their active involvement. The grassroots level coordinators, who had come from the different parts of the country, raised several issues to the domain experts and other invited speakers and got responses. Some of these issues and concerns include: how to conduct ICT training at the grassroots level; how can NGOs go ahead with support from NASSCOM and other such agencies in taking benefit of country wide telecentre programme of the government of India; how to overcome the barriers to technology such as cost, access and content; and how to link ICT with the livelihood concerns of the poor masses. The participants found the consultation a very informative and fruitful endeavour. i4d | January 2007

RENDEZVOUS FOSS@W ORK I NTERNATIONAL C ONFERENCE -W ORKSHOP, P HILIPPINES , N OVEMBER 12-15, 2006

SMEs in the IT industry learn about FOSS

Over 50 participants from SouthEast Asian countries explored the chances for economic and social development through Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) at the “First FOSS@Work International Conference-Workshop for Small-toMedium Enterprises (SME) in the 7I.T. Industry”, held at the Heritage Hotel Manila, Philippines from November 12th to 15th, 2006. In three days of high powered trainings, IT managers and decision makers of SMEs discussed with a range of international speakers, how FOSS can add value to their current business operations as well as allow them to enhance their network. Discussions ranged from IT management, FOSS January 2007 | www.i4donline.net

architecture and community management skills, software development to secure wireless networks. InWEnt Capacity Building International, Germany, UNDP-Asia Pacific Development Information Programme (UNDP-APDIP) and the University of the Philippines, Manila jointly organised the event through the assistance of the UNDP International Open Source Network ASEAN+3 node. The great interest of participants and media in FOSS@Work proved a growing demand for Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) among businesses in the region and potential benefits such as legal and affordable software solutions in

local languages for SMEs in the region. Industry sources consider widespread FOSS use would drastically reduce software piracy as the Philippines ranks among the 10 highest in the region with a rate of 71 percent as of 2005 study findings by the International Data Corporation (IDC), the information technology (IT) industry’s leading global market research and forecasting firm.

FOSS@Work Keynote speaker of FOSS@Work was Commissioner Emmanuel Lallana from the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) of the Philippines. In his speech, Lallana revealed

how his work in CICT Human Capital Development Group has expanded the market for ICT training especially in the remote areas of the country. Of particular importance was his proposal that state universities and colleges (SUCs) may serve as technical support hubs for SMEs who may choose to build their businesses around FOSS tools. Guest speaker Rep. Teodoro Casino reiterated the importance of his FOSS Bill now filed in the House of Representatives. He underlined the potential of FOSS for local and regional software development, the creation of a service industry and social justice. Shahid Akhtar of UNDP APDIP underlined the value of SMEs in addressing the poverty issues of the region and how FOSS can catalyse SME development by taking advantage of the

advocates, experts, and developers to foster its adoption (http:// www.iosn.net/asean-3/countries/philippines/events/foss-at-work). Email inquiries to ASEAN+3 can be sent via asean3@iosn.net. Participants of FOSS@Work came from Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Philippines, and Malaysia with delegates also coming from as far away as Fiji and India. For more details about this event, visit http://www.iosn.net/asean-3/countries/philippines/news/ fossatwork1_philippines Alvin B. Marcelo is one of three sub-regional node managers of the International Open Source Network (IOSN). The International Open Source Network (IOSN) is a Centre of Excellence for FOSS in the Asia-Pacific Region. It shapes its activities around Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) technologies and applications. Via a small secretariat based at the UNDP Regional Centre in Bangkok and

Open Source Software can empower Southeast Asian enterprises, says regional conference FOSS@Work technology’s low-cost and high quality. Balthas Seibold of InWEnt Capacity Building International, Germany, stressed, that new business models, innovative local FOSS products and services offer exciting opportunities for SMEs and for countries in the region, but only if the human resource base is expanded through capacity-building and training. InWEnt - Capacity Building International, a human resources development organisation of Germany supports, among its various projects, the development and application of local Free/ Open Source Software (FOSS)-based innovative software solutions and business models in the ASEAN region through its it@FOSS project financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (for more information, see http:// www.it-foss.org). The ASEAN+3 Regional Node, based in Manila, Philippines was created by the UNDP-IOSN as one of its three Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) centres of excellence in the Asia-Pacific region, which is primarily tasked to facilitate and network FOSS

three centres of excellence – IOSN ASEAN+3, IOSN PIC (Pacific Island Countries), and IOSN South Asia, based in Manila, Suva and Chennai respectively, the IOSN is tasked specifically to facilitate and network FOSS advocates and human resources in the region. The vision is that developing countries in the Asia-Pacific Region can achieve rapid and sustained economic and social development by using affordable yet effective FOSS ICT solutions to bridge the digital divide. Alvin is a general and trauma surgeon with a strong advocacy for free/open source software. He is presently the project manager of the Community Health Information Tracking System, an open source health information system for local health centres in the Philippines (www.chits.info). Alvin B. Marcelo Manager for International Open Source Network (IOSN) for the ASEAN region, Manila, Philippines alvinbmarcelo@yahoo.com

Unleashing career potential in ICT Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) of Sri Lanka on its drive towards economic development in the nation is aiming to build capacity through its programme ‘ICT Capacity Building Programme’ (ICBP). First move in this direction would be the creation of ICT workforce enabling domestic ICT and IT Enabled Service (ITES) companies to grow. The capacity building is also extended to the vast majority of those pupils who are unable to make it to university. The programme, thus urges to build potential of such workforce by giving proper training and awareness. To develop awareness, ICTA also held an ‘open day’ session recently with an enrolment of over 300 students from many schools participating in the demonstration. There were 4 sessions comprising 2 hours each which gave the participants insight into the ICT landscape from an employee’s perspective and the potential that exists. At the event, companies in the IT and ITES industry, such as Virtusa, Dialog and WNS spoke about careers in relevance to their respective organisations. They urged to students on the need to improve is the eligiblilty either a short entry level training programme or in soft skills. An announcement was also made of availability of over 500 scholarships by ICTA through the ICBP worth of Rs. 22,500.00 each to eligible students interested in following the International Call Centre Skills Passport (ICCSP) course offered by MMBL CyberSkills (NIIT), Ma Foi Academy, Gateway Centre for Information Technology or IDM Computer Studies. Source: ICTA, Sri Lanka

i4d | January 2007

What’s on Africa 28-30 May, 2007 eLearning Africa 2007 Nairobi, Kenya http://www.elearning-africa.com

Australia 7-8 March, 2007 23rd Annual Conference, ATUG 2007 AustralianTechnology Park, Sydney http://www.atug.com.au/atug2007.cfm

20-21March, 2007 Wireless World 2007 Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre http://www.wirelessworld2007.com/

1-3 May, 2007 CeBIT Australia 2007 Darling Harbour, Sydney http://www.cebit.com.au/

Brazil 27-30 May, 2007 9th International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries, Paulista Plaza Hotel, São Paulo http://www.ifipwg94.org.br/

Bulgaria 3-6 December, 2007 ITU TELECOM EUROPE Sofia, Bulgaria http://www.itu.int/EUROPE2007/index.html

China 14-17 April, 2007 International ICT Expo HK Convention Centre, HongKong

15-21 March, 2007 CeBIT Hannover www.cebit.de

8-11 October, 2007 Broadband World Forum Europe 2007 Estrel Convention Centre Berlin http://www.iec.org/events/2006/bbwf/

Telecommunications (ICT), 8th Malaysian International Conference on Communications (MICC), The Bayview Beach Resort, Batu Feringhi Beach, Penang, Malaysia http://www.ict07.org/

Spain 12-15 February, 2007 Wireless developer forum Barcelona. 07 Hotel Barcelo Sants http://www.event-solutions.info/SOLE2/pages/ event.asp?ecode=CD1043

United Kingdom

Italy

Malaysia

15 March, 2007 Creating Learning Opportunities in and out of the Classroom Hertfordshire Development Centre, Wheathampstead England

14 -17 May 2007 14th International Conference On

http://www.thegrid.org.uk/learning/ict/research/ conferences/2007/index.shtml

26-29 March, 2007 Fiera Milano Congressi, C5 World Forum http://www.iec.org/events/2007/c5/

CSDMS Events 6-8 February, 2007 eGovAsia 2007 Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC), Malaysia

28 March, 2007 National Conference 2007 Emirates Stadium, London http://www.icthub.org.uk/Conferences/ National_Conference_2007.html

http://www.egovonline.net/egovasia/2007

United States

6-8 February, 2007 Digital Learning Asia 2007 Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC), Malaysia

22-24 January, 2007 FMCA, Ramada Plaza, San Francisco, USA

http://www.digitallearning.in/dlasia/2007

29 January-1 February, 2007 Design Con 2007 Santa Clara Convention Centre Santa Clara, California

6-8 February, 2007 ATF 2007, Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC), Malaysia http://www.i4donline.net/ATF/2007

http://www.informatm.com/newt/l/fmcvision/usa/

http://www.designcon.com/2007/

6-8 February, 2007 eHealth Asia2007 Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC), Malaysia

9-10 May, 2007 GovSec, Washington DC

Germany

http://www.csdms.in/eHealth/

Uganda

22-23 February, 2007 2nd Annual CELTIC Event 2007 Haupstadtrepräsentanz of Deutsche Telekom, Berlin

6-8 February, 2007 mServe Asia2007 Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC), Malaysia

http://www.celtic-initiative.org/Events/Celtic-

http://www.csdms.in/mServe/

5-8 August, 2007 3rd Annual International Conference on Computing and ICT Research - SREC07, Makerere University Kampala

http://ictexpo.tdctrade.com/

Event07-Berlin/welcome.asp

www.govsecinfo.com

http://srec.cit.ac.ug/srecc07/home/

Get your event listed here. www.i4donline.net/events January 2007 | www.i4donline.net

I N F ACT

Useful links of Malaysia Do you want to explore more about Malaysia? The following websites may help you to do so. Organisation

Websites

Main government-related ICT organisations Ministry of Energy, Communications and Multimedia Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission National Information Technology Council Multimedia Development Corporation Malaysian Institute of Microelectronic Systems (MIMOS) Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU)

www.ktkm.gov.my www.cmc.gov.my www.nitc.org.my www.mdc.com.my www.mimos.my www.mampu.gov.my

Main ICT providers Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TMB) Celcom (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd Maxis Communications Berhad DiGi Telecommunications Sdn. Berhad TIME dotCom Berhad

www.telekom.com.my www.celcom.com.my www.maxis.com.my www.mutiara.com.my

www.time.com.my Mass media

Bernama, National News Agency New Straits Times The Star Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) Sistem Televisyen Malaysia Berhad (TV3) Natseven (ntv7) Cableview MEASAT Broadcast Network Systems

www.bernama.com www.emedia.com.my thestar.com.my www.rtm.net.my www.tv3.com.my www.ntv7.com.my www.megatv.com.my

www.astro.com.my Academic

Ministry of Education (MOE) Telekom Smart School Portal MDC Smart School flagship My e-Tutor: educational portal Multimedia University (MMU) Unversiti Tun Abdul Razak (UNITAR)

www.moe.gov.my www.tss.com.my/portal_smart1.htm www.mdc.com.my/msc/flagship/ss.html www.myetutor.com www.mmu.edu.my www.unitar.edu.my

Health Ministry of Health MDC Telehealth flagship

www.moh.gov.my www.mdc.com.my/msc/flagship/tm.html

Electronic commerce Malaysian Electronic Payment System

www.meps.com.my

Portals Malaysia Civil Service Link Malaysia Portal

mcsl.mampu.gov.my www.mymalaysia.net.my

Other Department of Statistics Malaysia Economic Planning Unit Ministry of Information Malaysian Network Information Centre (MYNIC) Official Tourism Site Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange

www.statistics.gov.my/English/page2.html www.epu.jpm.my www.kempen.gov.my www.mynic.net www.tourism.gov.my www.klse.com.my

Source: Multimedia Malaysia: Internet Case Study, www.itu.int

i4d | January 2007

Click-start to an e-healthy journey ...

g .or e n nli ho t l ea .eh w ww

... by simply logging on to www.ehealthonline.org The pulse on Asiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s e-Health

India's Premier ICT4D event 31July - 02 August, 2007 Pragati Maidan, New Delhi

eIndia 2007 is the premier ICT4D event of India. This is the largest ever conference and exhibition covering the fast growing ICT4D activities in the country encompassing the following five events: •

egov India 2007

• digital Learning India 2007

•

Indian Telecentre Forum 2007

• eHealth India 2007

•

mserve India 2007